Chinese authorities paid local propaganda workers and news outlets to influence social media discourse on Covid-19 in the country, according to a report by the New York Times and ProPublica .

The confidential directives revealed to the news organisations that the officials in the country worked extensively to do away with “inconvenient news” related to coronavirus.

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Chinese officials intended to suppress unsanctioned voices by inundating social media with paid trolls. This includes the death of Li Wenliang, the doctor who had warned the country about the Covid-19 outbreak.

The propaganda workers were instructed to remove the doctor’s name from social media trends and flood social media with fake news clamour, said the reports.

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Also, the officials released special directives to the news organisations in the country that said: "... do not use push notifications, do not post commentary, do not stir up the speculation. Safely control the fervour in online discussions, do not create hashtags, gradually remove from trending topics, strictly control harmful information."

According to the report, China aims to have tight control over the dissemination of news and what the public consumes in the country. The investigative report stated that carrying it out it takes an enormous bureaucracy, armies of people, specialised technology made by private contractors, and the constant monitoring of digital news outlets and social media platforms.

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