A recent analysis has uncovered that China employs organized online commentary to sway public opinion regarding competitive industries, particularly those involving Korea and China, such as electric vehicles, batteries, and e-commerce. Comments asserting “I avoid Korean products” alongside praise for Chinese goods illustrate this manipulation strategy.
On Sunday, industry sources revealed that a research team led by Professors Kim Eun Young from Catholic Kwandong University and Hong Seok Hoon from Changwon National University published a report titled “Understanding the Status of Cognitive Warfare in Korea-China Competitive Industries.” This report scrutinizes comments on articles related to these sectors, analyzing data collected from online platforms such as Naver, YouTube, and Nate between July and August 2023.
This study represents a pioneering effort to document Chinese attempts to influence South Korea’s domestic economy via online commentary. The research team identified suspicious Chinese accounts based on criteria including Chinese-style translations, distinctive Chinese IDs, profile characteristics, and repetitive comments from individual users.
The analysis selected 70 articles featuring key terms like electric vehicles, batteries, smartphones, and notable companies such as Samsung, AliExpress, Temu, and Shein. Findings indicated that articles attracting a high volume of comments from suspected Chinese individuals also tended to have a larger overall comment count.
The research team observed, “Suspicious Chinese commenters posted more frequently on articles predominantly authored by Koreans,” suggesting that increased engagement from Korean commenters may provoke further activity from these suspected accounts.
The report highlights that such tactics have persisted for years in competitive sectors like electric vehicles and smartphones, with a recent uptick in derogatory comments. Techniques employed include “scare tactics” to induce public anxiety, “divide and conquer” strategies to incite political, gender, and regional discord, and “discarding” efforts to undermine the influence of domestic media critical of China.
The researchers noted that the 77 accounts identified in this analysis represent merely a fraction of the suspected Chinese accounts in operation. Beyond online articles, they discovered 239 suspicious accounts on YouTube, with the most commented article garnering nearly 2,700 comments, significantly surpassing Naver’s highest count of 454.
The report concludes with recommendations for establishing a database of problematic comments and implementing systems to effectively profile and identify these Chinese actors to counter this emerging form of cognitive warfare.
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