New allegations against U.S. social media giant Facebook have arisen after it reportedly allowed the Chinese Communist Party to purchase ads meant to misinform audiences about the ongoing abuses against the Uyghurs.
British media trade publication Press Gazette published a report revealing how Facebook is "taking money from China to promote 'propaganda' [downplaying] the plight of Uyghur Muslims" in the communist country.
The news came after Facebook allowed Chinese state-run outlets such as China Daily and CGTN to publish posts that claim how reports of abuses against Uyghurs are merely Western "disinformation."
Facebook received advertising payments from communist China in exchange for promoting this type of content to millions of people around the globe.
As of January this year, there are 2.7 billion Facebook users worldwide, including 320 million in India, followed by 190 million in the U.S., 140 million in Indonesia, 130 million in Brazil, 93 Million in Mexico, and 83 million in the Philippines, Statista revealed.
Breitbart reported that the Press Gazette uncovered one case in which China Daily paid Facebook less than $400 to run an ad featuring a video that severely criticizes and rejects independent press reports from Xinjiang as rubbish.
Communist China showed the video to a targeted audience of over a million Facebook users. The advertised video was in the form of a documentary that explained how Western "politicians, think tanks and the media work together to align narratives that drive public discussion and pervade the public consciousness often with malevolent intent."
Furthermore, China Daily was also found to sponsor another video that claims a report on the Xinjiang Uyghur camps was "completely false" and "straight from the manual of Western media tricks."
Another sponsored video paid by communist China to Facebook was an advertisement promoting a clip that accuses Western media of spreading "lies" and "disinformation" about abuses against Uyghurs. It warned viewers, "The tale of an oppressed Xinjiang is a myth Western media refuse to give up."
In addition, communist China's state-run broadcaster CGTN was found to have paid Facebook to advertise a post that "promoted the virtues of 'vocational training centres' in Xinjiang."
Thanks to over 1,000 advertisements paid by communist China to Facebook, state-run outlets CGTN, China Daily, China Xinhua News, the People's Daily and CCTV are now five of the six most "liked" or followed news pages in the world, as per a Social Blade ranking.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who according to The Guardian aspires to toss his name in the hat for the 2024 Presidential elections, is a firm detractor of communist China.
In 2019, the U.S. State Department released a report saying more than an estimated 1 million people in China, comprised of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Hui, Muslims, and Uyghur Christians, had been placed by Chinese authorities in "specially built internment camps or converted detention facilities."
More recently, the State Department, under Pompeo, said China is committing genocide against Uyghurs.
Pompeo condemned the abuses against Uyghurs by the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, who he said has "committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang."
Pompeo maintained, "I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state."
