The name is derived from claims such commentators were reportedly paid RMB¥0.50 for every post.[1][4] These commentators create comments or articles on popular Chinese social media networks that are intended to derail discussions which are critical of the CCP, promoting narratives that serve the government's interests and insulting or spreading misinformation about political opponents of the Chinese government, both domestic and abroad.[5][6][7] Some of these commentators have labeled themselves ziganwu (Chinese: 自干五, short for 自带干粮的五毛, zì dài gānliáng de wǔmáo, lit.'wumao who bring their own dry rations'), claiming they are not paid by authorities and express their support for the Chinese government out of their own volition.[8]
Authors of a paper published in 2017 in the American Political Science Review estimate that the Chinese government fabricates 488 million social media posts per year, representing about 0.6 percent of the 80 billion posts generated on Chinese social media. In contrast to common assumptions, the 50 Cent Party consists mostly of paid bureaucrats who respond to government directives and rarely defend their government from criticism or engage in direct arguments because "... the goal of this massive secretive operation is instead to distract the public and change the subject."[4] Around 80 percent of the analyzed posts involve pro-China inspirational slogans, and 13 percent involve general praise and suggestions on governmental policies. To maximize their influence, such pro-government comments are made largely during times of intense online debate, and when online protests have a possibility of transforming into real life actions.[9] Despite the common allegation of the commentators getting paid for their posts, the paper suggested there was "no evidence" that they are paid anything for their posts, instead being required to do so as a part of their official party duties.[10]
In October 2004, the local CCP Propaganda Department of Changsha started hiring Internet commentators, in one of the earliest known uses of professional Internet commentators.[11]
In March 2005, the Ministry of Education enacted a systematic censorship of Chinese college bulletin board systems (BBS). The popular "Little Lily" BBS, run by Nanjing University, was forced to close. As a new system was prepared to be launched, school officials hired students as part-time web commentators, paid from the university's work-study funds, to search the forum for undesirable information and actively counter it with Party-friendly viewpoints. In the following months, party leaders from Jiangsu began hiring their own teams.[12] By mid-2007, web commentator teams recruited by schools, and party organizations were common across China. Shanghai Normal University employed undergraduates to monitor for signs of dissent and post on university forums.[13] These commentators not only operate within political discussions, but also in general discussions.[12][13] Afterwards, some schools and local governments also started to build similar teams.[14][15][16]
On 23 January 2007, Chinese leader Hu Jintao demanded a "reinforcement of ideological and public opinion front construction and positive publicity" at the 38th collective learning session of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.[17] Large Chinese websites and local governments have been requested to publish the sayings of Hu, and select "comrades with good political quality" to form "teams of Internet commentators" by the CCP Central Committee (中共中央办公厅) and General Office of the State Council (国务院办公厅).[12][18]
Negative reporting of local authorities has increased on the Internet since then.[19] In one instance described on the China Digital Times, the Jiaozuo (Henan) City Public Security Bureau established a mechanism to analyze public opinion after criticism of the police handling of a traffic incident appeared on the Internet. The Bureau responded with 120 staff calling for the truth to be revealed in line with the public opinion, which gradually shifted and eventually supported the police position, denouncing the original poster.[19][20] In the aftermath of the 2008 Weng'an riot, Internet forums were filled with posts critical of the local authorities; the China Newsweek later reported that "the major task of the propaganda group was to organize commentators to past [sic] posts on websites to guide online public opinions."[20]
In December 2014, a Chinese blogger hacked into and published email archives for the Internet Propaganda Department of Zhanggong District in Ganzhou, including over 2,700 emails of 50 Cent Party Internet commentators.[22][23] For instance, on 16 January 2014, Shi Wenqing, secretary of the Ganzhou branch of the CCP, held a televised "Internet exchange" in which he answered questions from a local news website forum; 50 Cent Party commentators were instructed to post seven discussion points, such as (translated) "I really admire Party Secretary Shi, what a capable and effective Party Secretary! I hope he can be the father of Ganzhou for years to come."[24]
Range of operation
The Ministry of Culture now holds regular training sessions, where participants are required to pass an exam after which they are issued a job certification.[12] As of 2008, the total number of 50-cent operatives was estimated to be in the tens of thousands,[25] and possibly as high as 280,000–300,000.[12][26] Every large Chinese website is instructed by the Information Office to create a trained team of Internet commentators.[12] The Cyberspace Administration of China (shortened as Chinese: 网信办) directly recruit and provide continuous training for internet commentators (Chinese: 网评员) to respond to online emergencies under new forms of public opinion dissemination channels on various social media platforms,[27][28][29] and state-owned entities regularly hold commemoration ceremonies for outstanding staff on the provincial and county-levels.[30][31][32]
According to the Chinese Communists' opinions of the recruitment of university Work Committee (tentative), the university Internet commentators are mainly selected from cadres or student cadres at the local CCP Publicity Department of universities, Youth League, Office of Academic Affairs, Network Center, Admissions Employment Department, Political Theory Department, Teaching Department and other units.[33]
The court of Qinghe District, Huai'an organized a team of 12 commentators.[34]Gansu Province hired 650 commentators, sorted by their writing abilities.[35] Suqian Municipal Publicity Department's first 26 commentators' team were reported by Yangtse Evening Post in April 2005.[36] According to high-profile independent Chinese blogger Li Ming, the pro-Chinese government web commentators must number "at least in the tens of thousands".[37]
A 2016 Harvard study estimated that the group posts about 488 million social media comments per year.[38][4]
According to an article published by Xiao Qiang on his website China Digital Times, a leaked propaganda directive, sent to 50 Cent Party Internet commentators, stated their objective was the following:[39][40]
In order to circumscribe the influence of Taiwanese democracy, in order to progress further in the work of guiding public opinion, and in accordance with the requirements established by higher authorities to "be strategic, be skilled," we hope that internet commentators conscientiously study the mindset of netizens, grasp international developments, and better perform the work of being an internet commentator. For this purpose, this notice is promulgated as set forth below:
(1) To the extent possible make America the target of criticism. Play down the existence of Taiwan.
(2) Do not directly confront [the idea of] democracy; rather, frame the argument in terms of "what kind of system can truly implement democracy.”
(3) To the extent possible, choose various examples in Western countries of violence and unreasonable circumstances to explain how democracy is not well-suited to capitalism.
(4) Use America's and other countries' interference in international affairs to explain how Western democracy is actually an invasion of other countries and [how the West] is forcibly pushing [on other countries] Western values.
(5) Use the bloody and tear-stained history of a [once] weak people [i.e., China] to stir up pro-Party and patriotic emotions.
(6) Increase the exposure that positive developments inside China receive; further accommodate the work of maintaining [social] stability.[39][40]
Terms
There is an alternate official term for the Internet commentator, as well as several unofficial terms coined by netizens for them:
Chinese (Simp. / Trad.)
Pinyin
Literally in English
Commonly in English
Note
Official name (primary)
网络评论员 / 網絡評論員
wǎngluò pínglùn yuán
Internet commentator
Abbreviation in Chinese: 网评员 / 網評員 (wǎng píng yuán)
Official name (secondary)
网络阅评员 / 網絡閱評員
wǎngluò yuè píng yuán
Internet examiner and commentator
N/A
Unofficial term
五毛党 / 五毛黨 or simply 五毛
wǔmáo dǎng or wǔmáo
Five-dime Party, or simply "five dimes"
50 Cent Party, 50 Cent Army.
The most common name, used pejoratively.
Unofficial term
网评猿 / 網評猿
wǎng píng yuán
ape that comments on the 'net
N/A
A pejorative pronounced identically with the Chinese abbreviation 网评员; wǎng píng yuán above, punning yuán (猿; "ape; monkey") for yuán (员; "personnel, staff member").
The Chinese translation for these English terms are rarely used.
Among those names, "50 Cent Party" (五毛党) was the most common and pejorative unofficial term.[42]
According to Foreign Policy, Chinese cyberspace is also noted for its ideological contests between "rightists" – reformists who advocate Western-style democratic reforms, versus "leftists" – conservatives and neo-Confucianists who advocate Chinese nationalism and restructured socialism. In this backdrop, rightists sometimes refer to leftists derogatorily as "50 Centers", regardless of their actual employment background.[9]
The Hong Kong-based Apple Daily reported that although a search for "五毛党" ("50 Cent Party" in Chinese) on a search engine produces results, most were inaccessible and had been deleted.[43]
Effects and opinions
The 50 Cent Party's activities were described by CCP general secretary and Chinese president Hu Jintao as "a new pattern of public-opinion guidance";[44][45] they represent a shift from simply erasing dissenting opinions to guiding dialogue. In 2010, a contributor to The Huffington Post stated that some comments she received on one of her posts were from the 50 Cent Party;[46] she also stated that the 50 Cent Party monitors popular US websites, news sites and blogs and posts comments that advance Chinese governmental interests.[46]
David Wertime, writing in Foreign Policy, argued that the narrative where a large army of paid Internet commentators are behind China's poor public dialogue with its critics is "Orwellian, yet strangely comforting". Rather, many of the Chinese netizens spreading nationalist sentiment online are not paid, but often mean what they say.[9]
Facebook and Twitter have been removing accounts and pages that are of "coordinated state-backed operation".[48] In June 2020, Twitter has removed 170,000 accounts which targeted 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests.[49]
^"市级机关团工委2009年度工作总结 (2009 summary of works of the Municipal Authorities Youth League Working Committee)" (in Chinese). Shanghai Communist Youth League official site. 20 January 2010. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2010. 2009年，市级机关网评员在市网宣办的业务指导下，先后参与了莲花河畔景苑倒楼事件、强制安装"绿坝"网络屏蔽软件、普陀区城管打人事件、甲型 H1N1 流感防控、"倒钩"执法事件、闵行区潘蓉自焚事件、地铁事故频发等以涉沪舆情为重点的网上舆论引导工作，在人民网、新华网、东方网及新浪、天涯社区等国内重点网站、主要商业网站、大型网络社区。发帖、跟帖、转帖200余篇，东方网评论频道录用各类网评文章20余篇，工作得到市网宣办的肯定。
^Liang, Fafei (19 May 2010). "网络实名制从网评员做起" [Implementing Real-Name Registration Starting with Internet Commentators]. China Youth Daily (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
^""风雨无阻护扬州"抗疫专题宣传" ["Protecting Yangzhou Through Wind and Rain" Anti-Epidemic Special Publicity Campaign]. Yangtse Evening Post. 25 November 2021. Archived from the original on 7 August 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
^Zhang, Mingming; Zheng, Xianghua; Su, Wenna (23 June 2024). "山东财经大学举办舆情应对处置报告会暨优秀网站颁奖、核心网评员聘任仪式" [Shandong University of Finance and Economics held a Public Opinion Response and Handling Presentation, an award ceremony for outstanding websites, and a Core Online Commentators Appointment Ceremony.]. Dazhong Daily. Archived from the original on 24 June 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
^"全国20名骨干网评员，点赞孝昌30年成就" [Twenty key online commentators from across the country praised Xiaochang County's achievements over the past 30 years.]. Hubei Daily. 21 May 2023. Archived from the original on 7 August 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
