Weaponizing Social Media
Weaponizing Social Media
The CCP’s New Plan to “Eliminate” Falun Gong Worldwide
The CCP’s New Plan to “Eliminate” Falun Gong Worldwide
Newly leaked documents and escalating online attacks demonstrate war on Falun Gong heading into uncharted territory
Newly leaked documents and escalating online attacks demonstrate war on Falun Gong heading into uncharted territory
Published: August 7, 2024
“Mobilize concealed agents to create and escalate the internal conflicts of Falun Gong, to expand nonstop the fighting strength, depth, and reach of [social media influencers targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun]…they must attract the continuous attention of the entire United States society, and force the U.S. government to strike on all fronts, eliminating the force of Falun Gong.”
— Detailed notes from China’s Ministry of Public Security meetings held in June 2024
Key Takeaways
Newly leaked, credible reports indicate that the Chinese regime has made a strategic decision to escalate its persecution against Falun Gong worldwide, expanding its propaganda, disinformation, and transnational repression activities to target Falun Gong more aggressively outside China, and especially in the United States.
A central tactic in this reinvigorated battle is mobilizing the resources of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and other Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities to “fully support” social media influencers to attack Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts, a classical Chinese dance troupe many of whose performers practice Falun Gong. The regime is also poised to “activate” a network of embedded spies—including within Falun Gong—in an attempt to decimate the spiritual group globally, especially in the United States. This appears to be the CCP’s endgame to finally destroy Falun Gong.
- Increased attacks, strategic shift: According to information leaked in June 2024 from MPS meetings, the regime’s goal is to “fully eliminate Falun Gong worldwide” and to cause the closure of Shen Yun Performing Arts. Information leaked in July 2024 from another source outlines a similar strategy to deceive global internet users about Falun Gong based on documents from the CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies, a Chinese state-run thinktank and funding institution. In practice, online attacks have indeed increased since early 2024 and constitute a significant escalation to the 25-year persecution campaign against Falun Gong, signaling a strategic shift in the regime’s prioritization of Falun Gong worldwide as a target.
- Multi-pronged campaign: According to internal documents and visible evidence, the regime is—or will be—using several tactics to carry out these attacks:
a. Amplifying disinformation and anti-Falun Gong content: Chinese officials from the MPS have ordered provincial departments to provide resources to two YouTubers at the center of recent online attacks against Shen Yun and Falun Gong on social media, including support from “50-cent party” accounts. The CITIC Foundation has issued instructions to share defamatory information about Falun Gong with foreign media and to manipulate search engine results related to Falun Gong.
b. Activation of CCP agents: Officials have ordered the activation of an extensive network of overseas agents and within the Falun Gong community, especially in the United States, to provide content to the above YouTubers and take other actions on behalf of the regime. The goal is to spread falsehoods about Falun Gong and Shen Yun, provoke internal divisions within the Falun Gong community, and otherwise destabilize organizations founded by Falun Gong practitioners from within. Some of the suspicious individuals interviewed by these MPS-supported YouTubers fall into this category.
c. Attempts to turn the U.S. government and American society against Falun Gong: In addition to undermining the reputation of Falun Gong and Shen Yun within American society, the regime and its agents also plan to incite divisions between Falun Gong and the U.S. government in an attempt to instigate a U.S. government-led crackdown on organizations founded by Falun Gong practitioners. - In the coming weeks and months, disinformation and smear campaigns against Falun Gong and Shen Yun are likely to increase and become more visible. Available evidence suggests that the CCP’s MPS is a driving force behind these efforts, with state-backed entities like CITIC also joining the campaign. At least one of the influencers named by the MPS is based in the United States and may be acting as a foreign agent of the CCP but is not registered as such. Also, there appears to be overlap between the interviewees speaking to this influencer and to reporters from the New York Times, raising questions as to whether the paper’s reporting is being affected by a CCP-supported smear campaign.
- Immediate action needed: For 25 years Falun Gong practitioners have peacefully resisted and rebuffed the CCP’s brutal persecution in China, while seeking creative ways outside the country to debunk the regime’s dehumanizing propaganda and share with the world messages of hope, such as via Shen Yun performances. Practitioners have been aided in these endeavors by statements of support and solidarity from democratic government officials, human rights groups, and ordinary citizens. As the regime shifts its tactics to one of the most vulnerable areas of democracies’ resilience to foreign authoritarian influence—social media platforms and disinformation—it is urgent and vital that the U.S. government and broader public recognize that the actual source of seemingly “independent” commentators and incidents is likely China’s security apparatus. U.S. government agencies should also take steps to enforce U.S. laws regarding CCP agents operating in the United States and spreading regime propaganda. Social media platforms should engage in other measures to detect and limit the spread of CCP disinformation targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun.
Table of Contents
Background
CCP Targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts
Shifting Tactics After Prior Failures
CCP Action Plans
- Coordinated propaganda attacks against Shen Yun, Falun Gong
- Inciting conflict between Falun Gong and the U.S. Government
- Cutting communication channels that expose persecution inside China
- Manipulating search engines and disseminating content in multiple formats
- Provoking distrust and internal divisions within the Falun Gong community
Why The Escalation?
What to Watch For Next
Risks and Implications
Recommendations
Background
What is Falun Gong?
Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) is an ancient spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition. Falun Gong combines meditation and gentle exercises (similar to yoga or tai chi) with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance (or in Chinese, Zhen 真, Shan 善, Ren 忍).[1] Falun Gong practitioners aspire to live by these principles in their daily lives.
The practice was introduced to the public in May of 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi and represents a direct and authentic connection to genuine traditional Chinese culture. As reported by Chinese authorities during the 1990s, the health benefits of taking up Falun Gong are often immediate and many times dramatic, with some patients even recovering from severe illnesses. In addition, the Chinese people recognized in Falun Gong an authentic representation of spiritual traditions, which have almost been lost after decades of communist rule. These factors sparked a wave of excitement about the practice in China during the 1990s, and it grew rapidly across the country. By 1998, just six years after its first introduction to the public, official Chinese records estimated 70-100 million had taken up the practice, making Falun Gong the fastest growing, and most popular form of qigong in Chinese history.[2]
25 Years of Persecution
In 1999, witnessing its exploding popularity, a few leaders in the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a systematic campaign to “stamp out” the Falun Gong spiritual practice and violently suppress the tens of millions of people who practice it.[3] For the past 25 years, millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China have been subject to police harassment, abduction, imprisonment, torture, and deaths in custody.[4] Furthermore, untold numbers have been killed and their organs extracted to fuel a booming, multi-billion dollar organ transplant industry in China. All the while, vilifying propaganda inside China—as well as instances of questionable reporting in Western media that repeated CCP propaganda—have marginalized Falun Gong to some extent and given pause to would-be defenders of human rights.
What is Shen Yun Performing Arts?
Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premiere classical Chinese dance and music company. Its performances represent a renaissance of authentic traditional Chinese culture[5]—a culture that was almost lost under communist rule in China. A Shen Yun performance showcases a wide breadth of Chinese culture, including stories from China’s great works of literature, ethnic and folk traditions, as well as legendary stories from China’s rich tradition of faiths and spiritual practices, spanning Buddhism, Taoism, and even Falun Gong, with stories inspired by real events in China today. The company was founded in New York by elite artists who fled religious persecution in China. Today, Shen Yun has eight companies that travel the world simultaneously, performing in over 200 cities across five continents reaching more than a million audience members each year.
What are the Sources for This Analysis?
The findings analyzed and presented in this document primarily stem from the following sources, although endnotes have been included throughout for additional references:
- Detailed notes from two separate sources regarding the content of provincial-level Ministry of Public Security (MPS) meetings held in June 2024
- Detailed notes from a source about the content of a July 2024 internal report issued by China’s state-run CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies[6]
- Emails and text messages sent to former Shen Yun Performing Arts staff encouraging them to interview with and promote MPS-supported YouTubers
- Personal testimony from former detainees in China, including one from Europe who was held while visiting relatives in China
- U.S. Department of Justice press releases and legal complaints related to PRC transnational repression schemes targeting Falun Gong in the United States[7]
- Interviews with dozens of current and former Shen Yun performers, primarily in preparation for a January 2024 report on Shen Yun (see #2 below) but continued into June and July 2024 to investigate emerging threats and allegations against Shen Yun
For additional context, this report also draws on relevant sections of prior Falun Dafa Information Center reports, including analysis from the following:
- A series of provincial and town-level CCP documents as well as speeches from high-ranking public security officials that detail the CCP’s priority and strategy of maligning, silencing, and suppressing Falun Gong outside China, especially in the United States[8]
- The special report, Diplomatic Disruptions and Disinformation: Beijing’s Global Drive to Stop Shen Yun (January 2024)[9]
- The special report, The New York Times’ Falun Gong Distortion (March 2024)[10]
CCP Targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts
The CCP has been targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts, a U.S.-based non-profit, with an aggressive global campaign of artistic censorship and intimidation, arguably the largest such crusade documented to date. Everywhere Shen Yun has performed—across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East—the CCP’s sabotage attempts have followed. A research report published by our organization in early 2024 documented more than 130 incidents of interference by Chinese officials or their proxies targeting Shen Yun across 38 countries—including the United States—since 2007.[11]
The campaign against Shen Yun is a key dimension of the regime’s broader transnational repression aimed at Falun Gong practitioners, their peaceful activism, and their supporters around the world. Primary tactics include threatening theaters and government officials with political and economic reprisals, spreading disinformation, sabotaging vehicles carrying Shen Yun performers, threatening or imprisoning relatives of performers in China, and organizing protests by pro-Beijing diaspora groups outside performance venues.
Internal party documents reveal that instructions to sabotage Shen Yun come from the very top of the CCP. Central authorities have issued directives that deem suppressing Shen Yun to be “an important part of the … struggle against Falun Gong.” Indeed, in a majority of cases, Chinese diplomats have been the main actors attempting to silence Shen Yun.[12]
Special Focus on the United States
Over three dozen incidents of Chinese officials or their proxies trying to sabotage Shen Yun have been documented in the United States, more than any other country. Chinese consular officials have applied pressure to local government leaders and American theaters not to host Shen Yun, and performers have faced vehicle tampering and cyberattacks. Shen Yun’s training center in upstate New York has faced vandalism, espionage, legal harassment, social media disinformation campaigns, and even threats of physical violence. In May 2023, two ethnic Chinese men were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with attempting to bribe a U.S. official in a scheme targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts as part of an effort to “topple Falun Gong” in the United States.[13] In July 2024, these individuals pleaded guilty to the charges.[14] The case signaled a CCP shift to the use of more insidious tactics, including attempts to deploy corruption to turn U.S. government agencies against Shen Yun.
Why Target Shen Yun?
There are four main reasons why the CCP considers suppressing Shen Yun a top priority:
1. A cultural renaissance that revitalizes a culture CCP tried to destroy: Shen Yun showcases the authentic traditional culture of China. Because this culture is deeply spiritual, the CCP has tried to suppress it since seizing power in 1949 in order to impose communism on the Chinese people. Decades of bloody campaigns sought to destroy Buddhist monasteries, Confucian ideals, classical literature, and many other elements that comprised China’s 5,000-year civilization. By revitalizing this culture and putting it on stage for the world to see, Shen Yun is ushering in a renaissance of values and spirituality that challenges the Communist Party’s world view.
2. A vision of China without communism: A key element of the CCP’s hold on power is its ability to convince the Chinese people, and the world, that the CCP is, in fact, China—that the two are inseparable. According to this false narrative, the CCP is the rightful shepherd of Chinese culture and the Chinese people. With a single performance, Shen Yun demonstrates the magnificence of Chinese culture before the rise of communism, and in so doing, offers a vision for how wonderful China could be without the CCP. Therefore, not only does the show dismantle the idea that the CCP and China are inextricably linked, but it also shows how grand China can be without the CCP. Thus, Shen Yun undermines the CCP’s legitimacy of representing China and Chinese culture.
3. Exposing modern-day tyranny: In telling the story of China’s 5,000 years of civilization, a portion of each Shen Yun performance includes honest, often heart-wrenching depictions of modern China with the tyranny of the CCP on full display. This exhibition unravels the false narrative of the rise of a “peaceful China” with the CCP at the helm by showing the real, devastating human cost of CCP rule.
4. Exposes farce of anti-Falun Gong narrative: The CCP has spent the last 25 years attempting to “stamp out” Falun Gong in China, while simultaneously trying to silence and vilify the Buddhist-based spiritual practice on the world’s stage. Yet, in a Shen Yun performance, audiences see artists who are Falun Gong practitioners displaying world-class artistry and inspirational storylines filled with wholesome values, and an overall message of hope. In short, the real character of Falun Gong is on full display, which flies in the face of the CCP’s anti-Falun Gong propaganda.
In short, a single performance of Shen Yun unravels 75-plus years of lies propagated by the CCP to legitimize its tyranny.
Shifting Tactics After Prior Failures
As noted above, since Shen Yun’s creation, Chinese officials and their proxies have gone to great lengths to prevent or otherwise sabotage Shen Yun performances, including by using economic and political leverage to pressure local governments and theaters not to host shows. At times they have succeeded, with performances or contracts being canceled in places like South Korea, Spain, and Ecuador. And yet, according to the latest research, in most cases—especially in the United States and European Union—they have failed, demonstrating a high degree of resilience in many democracies. Indeed, there have been 43 incidents of such principled pushback in at least 19 countries, including the United States. Thus, despite the regime’s sabotage efforts, Shen Yun’s popularity has increased, with the troupe expanding and performing to packed theaters around the world.
These regime failures mirror similar dynamics in its broader persecution campaign against Falun Gong. Despite 25 years of brutal suppression, Falun Gong survives in China and globally, practiced by tens of millions of people in over 100 countries.[15] Besides exhibiting resilience and dedication to pursuing the spiritual faith of their choice, Falun Gong practitioners have, through grassroots education campaigns, successfully undermined the regime’s demonizing propaganda and falsehoods to garner support among ordinary Chinese and, outside China, from a wide array of government officials, parliamentarians, rights groups, and ordinary citizens. This was evident from the numerous statements of support and solidarity issued last month in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the CCP’s launch of its anti-Falun Gong campaign. Several such messages posted by official U.S. government accounts on social media in Chinese also garnered attention, with one post in particular reaching nearly two million views.[16]
As part of an adaptive authoritarian regime, the CCP’s security apparatus therefore appears to be shifting tactics. Failing to crush Falun Gong in China or support for it globally, as well as being unable in most cases to stop theaters from booking Shen Yun shows, in 2024 the regime has turned to murkier methods like frivolous bomb threats[17] and disinformation campaigns to stoke distrust within the Falun Gong community and to smear Shen Yun’s reputation thereby deterring global audiences from watching its performances. A central and particularly damaging aspect of this effort has been the increased use of social media manipulation tactics, including creation of fake accounts impersonating senior Shen Yun staff and in particular, the emergence and amplification of two Chinese-speaking YouTubers, one with long-standing past ties to Chinese state media and another who has threatened violence against Shen Yun’s training center in New York.
Visible rise in social media attacks and account impersonations
Hostile YouTubers: Starting in mid-2023 and intensifying since early 2024, two Chinese-speaking YouTubers have ratcheted up attacks against Shen Yun and Falun Gong. The men’s background or recent behavior raises questions about their credibility and generates suspicions of ties to the CCP.
One of the men is based in Japan and worked for many years for China Central Television (CCTV), China’s state-run television broadcaster and CCP mouthpiece. Even after leaving China, he has consistently voiced pro-CCP views or made statements that align with the party on a variety of issues. More recently, he reportedly returned to China seeking regime funding for work on “external propaganda” and has begun publishing interviews with alleged former Shen Yun artists that disparage Falun Gong and Shen Yun.
The other individual is based in the United States. He operates an anti-Shen Yun and anti-Falun Gong YouTube channel and is very active on X (formerly Twitter). He had previously been imprisoned in China for his Falun Gong affiliation and immigrated to the United States with his wife, from who he has since divorced. In recent years, his stance toward Falun Gong changed and became more critical and aggressive, with indications of violent inclinations emerging as well. Beginning in late August 2023, his rhetoric escalated dramatically, making deranged comments and issuing death threats to the Falun Gong community and Shen Yun training center. He has made statements referring to himself as a “spy” and “sociopath,” and cited a desire to be part of a “death squad.” He faces charges on possession of illegal firearms and in September 2023, U.S. law enforcement issued a warning to local officials in New York that he was “potentially armed and dangerous,” after he was seen near the Shen Yun training center. Videos from July 2024 include his statements about “wanting to destroy… whoever stands in my way… I will destroy him” and seemingly unhinged rants addressed to current Shen Yun dance instructors and performers warning that “you should be afraid of me.”[18]
Recently leaked documents from the Ministry of Public Security list these individuals’ names and instruct cadres to “fully support” their attacks on Falun Gong and Shen Yun. This appears to be part of a strategic shift to refocus on eliminating Falun Gong not only within China, but also worldwide (see details below).
Deceitful interviewees: Alongside unsettling threats and commentary by these YouTubers themselves, their videos have also featured interviews with former Shen Yun dancers or musicians—a small group of individuals who were dismissed from the company either for violating codes of conduct or simply failing to reach Shen Yun’s artistic standards.
Seeming to hold a grudge toward Shen Yun, these individuals often mix blatant lies with distortions of true events or people to create a highly misleading picture of Shen Yun. For example, some of these individuals claim Shen Yun discouraged them from receiving proper medical treatment for dance injuries—a false narrative debunked by well-documented medical treatment of many Shen Yun dancers who underwent surgeries for things like torn ACLs and knee injuries as well as regular medical treatment for minor aches and pains.[19] In another notable case, one former dancer claims an instructor’s young son died after fainting at Shen Yun’s training center, while the attending adults merely “prayed” for a recovery. In fact, the young boy fell ill at home and was taken to Westchester Medical Center, and an expert from Columbia University’s medical center was consulted in the case—all of which is documented by written communications with doctors and official medical records.[20] The end result of these fantastical stories is a narrative designed to incite the U.S. population to turn against Shen Yun and Falun Gong as well as to convince U.S. authorities to investigate.
Account impersonations on X: In parallel to the rise of these YouTubers, there has also been an uptick in July 2024 of individuals creating fake accounts on X that impersonate senior Shen Yun staff and make seemingly damaging or outrageous statements. The accounts have been removed by the social media company after complaints were filed but point to a larger campaign to manipulate online public opinion, especially among Chinese speakers.
CCP Action Plans
“The meeting requires all provincial-level governments to provide resources to fully support [names of social media influencers targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun], etc. to fight with Falun Gong… Supply all malicious information on Falun Gong gathered by the Public Security internally.”
— Detailed notes from Ministry of Public Security meetings held in June 2024
As online attacks on Shen Yun and anti-Falun Gong rhetoric by these YouTubers have escalated, many observers suspected the existence of ties to the CCP. Indeed, there have been documented cases in recent years of both Chinese and non-Chinese social media influencers being paid, trained, or approached by Chinese state media or CCP agencies to produce or amplify propaganda or outright falsehoods on a variety of topics, such as the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang or the origins of the COVID-19 virus.[21]
It increasingly appears that there are indeed links between the Chinese regime and this latest campaign targeting Shen Yun and Falun Gong. In June 2024, two separate individuals within the Chinese security apparatus who are sympathetic to Falun Gong, shared notes from internal meetings that shed light on the regime’s attacks and indicate such a connection. They also provide details on other actions and goals of the MPS in targeting Falun Gong and sowing discord in the United States.[22] In July 2024, a third source provided details from an internal report issued by the Chinese state-run CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies. It correlates to and expands upon the MPS directives. The documents cite an explicit goal of dismantling Falun Gong worldwide, including in the United States, and outline the following five tactics for achieving this aim.
1. Coordinated propaganda attacks against Shen Yun, Falun Gong
Social media influencers: According to these internal sources from China, at meetings as recent as mid- and late-June 2024, officials in China’s public security bureau issued directives to “all provincial governments to provide resources to fully support [two YouTubers listed by name], etc. to have a fight with Falun Gong.” Officials demanded the use “of all various channels to provide materials to these people, supplying all malicious information on the Falun Gong gathered by the public security internally” and if necessary, to “mobilize concealed agents” within the Falun Gong community to escalate internal conflicts. These reports list the above-mentioned YouTubers by name, thereby confirming Chinese party-state support, although whether that support is also financial remains unclear. The MPS instructions go on to order that staff “expand the intensity, depth, and breadth of [the YouTubers’] fight with Falun Gong…strive to attract sustained attention from the entire American society, forcing the U.S. government to take comprehensive action to eliminate Falun Gong.”
Mainstream media: In the fall of 2023, upon returning from a six-month stint with the New York Times’ China team, one reporter began work on an investigative piece about Shen Yun. Individuals who have been interviewed by or had promoted the above-mentioned problematic social media influencers have, during the same time period, agreed to interviews with the Times. In several cases, these individuals were actively recruiting former Shen Yun artists who might hold grudges against the company to do interviews with both the New York Times and one of the YouTubers.
The leaked notes from the CITIC Foundation’s internal report also explicitly outline as part of an “offensive” against Falun Gong that staff should “Mobilize central state media resources, university think tanks and other unit resources [to] actively share defamatory information about Falun Gong with overseas media.” More recently, in early August 2024, one of the YouTubers explicitly listed “media like the New York Times” as one of three target “battlefields” for discrediting Falun Gong and Shen Yun. Taken together, these multiple points of information indicate that the paper’s reporting is or could be influenced, even unknowingly and from multiple directions, by CCP-linked actors who are part of this smear campaign.
This would not be the first time that the paper amplified CCP propaganda and falsehoods on Falun Gong. A detailed study published by the Falun Dafa Information Center in March 2024 found that the Times’ reporting on the practice since 1999 has been riddled with inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and omissions, even as it has reported more credibly on other human rights issues in China.[23] Moreover, this type of CCP-driven influence effort matches earlier leaked internal directives to penetrate Western media. One set of 2017 directives from Henan Province, for example, calls for “cultivating non-governmental forces in fighting [banned groups] such as ‘Falun Gong,’ and mobilizing China friendly people such as experts, scholars, journalists, and overseas Chinese community leaders who have greater influence in the U.S. and Western countries to speak for us, and strive to make more foreign media to publish more reports favorable to us [on Falun Gong issues].”[24]
2. Inciting conflict between Falun Gong and the U.S. Government
In order to create a divide between Falun Gong and the U.S. government, the MPS indicates it will deploy a two-pronged strategy simultaneously:
- Incite Falun Gong practitioners to distrust and even protest the U.S. government
- Provoke the U.S. government to investigate Shen Yun Performing Arts and other organizations founded by Falun Gong practitioners
Regarding the first strategy, the above leaked documents state that the MPS has a network of spies within the Falun Gong community and organizations founded by Falun Gong practitioners. The MPS plans to “activate” these spies to “stir things up, to protest the U.S. government publicly, and to provoke incidents during such public protests, and thereby force the U.S. government to suppress Falun Gong,” according to one source. Another source says the CCP has “professionals” to orchestrate such incidents and deceive some Falun Gong practitioners. “For example, they [the regime’s agents] will say that some U.S. government agencies have been compromised by the CCP to suppress Falun Gong” in order to “instigate you [Falun Gong] to fight against the U.S. government.” Similar to how such schemes are done in China, the plan undoubtedly includes the formulation and distribution of fake Falun Gong “teachings” to try and bolster enthusiasm within the Falun Gong community to go against the U.S. government. Additionally, according to these same sources, the MPS has directed “all 50-cent armies[25] in charge of accounts outside China to uniformly spread” these rumors aimed at dividing Falun Gong and the U.S. government.
Regarding the second strategy, among the propaganda points the MPS has formulated against Falun Gong and Shen Yun over the years, the current escalation campaign seeks to propagate and amplify those with the best chance of having legal ramifications within the United States. Alongside propagation of long-standing false narratives, such as depicting Falun Gong as a “cult,” the MPS-supported influencers may instead focus on false narratives that are likely to trigger investigations by U.S. authorities, such as Shen Yun “abusing” or “exploiting” underage performers by making them “perform injured,” with “low pay,” or even “forcing” them to marry. As noted above, some of these claims have indeed already appeared in videos published by these two YouTubers. While these false narratives are relatively easy to debunk (see table below), their propagation is an attempt to encourage investigations of Shen Yun Performing Arts and its training center.[26]
Fact-check: Key Inaccuracies Used to Target Shen Yun
False Accusation
Fact-check
Young performers are “abused” by forcing them to perform while injured and/or denying them medical attention
Blatantly false. Shen Yun dancers have undergone surgeries for things like torn ACLs and knee injuries as well as regular medical treatment for minor aches and pains. In some cases, dancers were flown to different parts of the country to receive treatment from top experts. All of these cases are supported with relevant medical records, with some even recording their journey of post-surgery rehab and posting it on YouTube.
Underage students are “exploited” by making them work as performers
Gross mischaracterization. Shen Yun Performing Arts is a professional arts company staffed by professional adults, many of whom are the best classical Chinese dancers in the world. However, the company also provides an exciting opportunity to talented students who have reached a professional standard in their art to join a Shen Yun tour as part of a practicum program with their school. While on practicum, college students earn credit and students learn from seasoned professionals. The program is legal, transparent, and comparable to opportunities offered by ballet and other performing arts companies. It is a highly sought-after experience by aspiring young artists, with many of them professing it to be the highlight of their student experience. [27]
Young performers are “forced” into marriages
Blatantly false. No one is ever forced to marry (or do anything for that matter) at Shen Yun’s training center, Dragon Springs.[28] As a tight-knit, Asian community, it is common for young people to sometimes seek guidance and input from their elders when considering marriage, but that is as far as it goes. To suggest anything more is inaccurate and likely insensitive to traditional Asian cultural norms. This is a clumsy attempt to repackage the CCP’s false “cult” narrative into a form that might trigger an investigation.
3. Cutting communication channels that expose persecution inside China
For more than 20 years, a grassroots network of millions of Falun Gong practitioners inside China have diligently gathered reports of human rights abuses and other injustices meted out by the CCP and reported them to overseas human rights workers.[29] This network has proven highly effective not only in exposing details of crimes and atrocities committed against Falun Gong practitioners, but also as a channel for other critical information to get out of China. For example, during the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, a Falun Gong citizen journalist was among those who exposed the true situation in Wuhan, including mounting deaths and over-burdened crematoriums.[30]
In recent MPS meetings, staff were instructed to “fully cut off communication channels between domestic and overseas Falun Gong.” Achieving this objective will likely require a dramatic escalation in targeting known Falun Gong practitioners both inside and outside China. This action could require increased cyberattacks on the communication channels themselves, combined with mass arrests inside China of those suspected of gathering and sharing information.
4. Manipulating search engines and disseminating content in multiple formats
The leaked notes based on an internal report at the CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies show that the report instructs the use of two additional tactics for “carrying out the offensive” against Falun Gong and organizations founded by practitioners.
First, it calls for defamatory content about Falun Gong to be distributed in diverse formats, including news reports, academic papers, short videos, and “micro-dramas” such that they are suitable for “‘fragmented’ dissemination on overseas social media to increase coverage.” This description recalls tactics used by the regime or its proxies in past disinformation campaigns, where content is created and then amplified via a variety of formats and platforms. This strategy serves to increase the apparent credibility of the information by creating an artificial “echo chamber” while obfuscating its origins, especially if some of those sources are more publicly evident as being linked to China. One such campaign was outlined in an August 2023 report by Meta. It involved a fake NGO report claiming the United States was hiding the origins of COVID-19, which was then amplified and disseminated via videos, blogs, and text posts on platforms like YouTube, Medium, Facebook, X, and Reddit.[31]
Second, the document contains orders to “suppress Falun Gong’s internet traffic by buying ads, SEO optimization, and other methods.” This would imply that a CCP-linked entity or fake accounts plan to actively manipulate the search engine results that internet users around the world receive when searching for terms related to Falun Gong. Already, past research on Bing’s and Google’s search engines have found biases or evidence of CCP influence in searches related to Falun Gong in North America, especially in terms of the autosuggestion function.[32]
“Mobilize central state media resources, university think tanks and other resources; take advantage of the U.S. election and the conflicts between the two parties… actively share defamatory information about Falun Gong with overseas media, and provide support… content suitable for short, catchy videos should continue to be disseminated via overseas social media to increase coverage. Suppress Falun Gong’s internet traffic by buying ads [and] SEO optimization.”
— Notes on the Chinese state-run CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies’ July 2024 internal report
5. Provoking distrust and internal divisions within the Falun Gong community
In addition to harming Falun Gong or Shen Yun’s reputation among the international community, the MPS documents also include calls for “fueling internal conflicts among Falun Gong in the U.S.” Indeed, recent testimony from multiple victims who were wrongly detained in China after traveling there from abroad indicate that Chinese police are using the above YouTubers’ videos as part of efforts to stoke internal divisions within Falun Gong, turn foreign detainees against Falun Gong, and recruit them to work for the CCP.
In one case from mid-2023, a Falun Gong practitioner from Europe was detained while visiting family in China. During multiple interrogations spanning several days, Chinese police encouraged this individual to watch videos from one of the above YouTube channels in order to “transform” this person’s thinking on Falun Gong and undermine the practitioner’s faith in the practice. This individual was then encouraged to get a job at an organization founded by Falun Gong practitioners upon returning to Europe, and serve as an embedded spy.[33] Furthermore, this person was directed to actively seek out Falun Gong practitioners with “complaints,” encourage them to watch the YouTube channel, and “transform” them so they separate from Falun Gong.
Why the Escalation?
It is abundantly clear both from sources inside China as well as from observable attacks over the past few months that these escalations against Falun Gong have already begun and are trending into uncharted territory. The internal documents explicitly state that the regime’s aim is to “eliminate Falun Gong worldwide.”
What is less clear is why… and why now? After all, the CCP has been targeting Falun Gong for 25 years, including via surveillance and transnational repression attacks outside of China.
Precise motivations within the CCP are usually difficult to discern as all key decisions are done behind closed doors and often with no paper trail. Furthermore, the CCP is not a monolith and is dominated by in-fighting among factions, who often launch independent or even competing initiatives making it even more difficult to say definitively why these escalations against Falun Gong have been launched.
However, explicit wording in the documents themselves as well as input from analysts with many decades of experience researching the CCP who have looked at the source reporting offer the following possible causes.
Remove perceived source of CCP skepticism in Taiwan by targeting Falun Gong from US “roots”
One reason cited in the documents for the shifting strategy and escalated targeting of Falun Gong globally is in connection with the regime’s ambitions to reunite with Taiwan, including potentially by force. The documents cite a perception that Falun Gong is influential in Taiwan and imply that given the track record of Falun Gong practitioners’ resistance to CCP repression in mainland China, top officials “are concerned that after entering Taiwan, Falun Gong will be a very big problem.” The documents state “That was why it [the CCP] changed its attitude and is prepared to eliminate it [Falun Gong] completely.” Moreover, the regime’s target is “the complete disintegration of Falun Gong… from the roots,” which is viewed as being in the United States. Falun Gong is indeed a popular and celebrated element of Taiwanese society with hundreds of thousands of people across the island practicing, although the group is not engaged in Taiwanese politics.[34] Still, the mere fact that a notable contingent of Taiwanese citizens practice Falun Gong appears to be sufficient for the regime to pre-emptively want to dissolve the community prior to any future invasion.
Capitalize on recent U.S. indictment
Generally speaking, the CCP knows that it has little credibility on the world stage. When it vilifies Falun Gong or attempts to mobilize other countries to follow suit, it usually does not gain much traction. Meanwhile, it also realizes governments in the West, especially the United States, have much more credibility, including in the eyes of people inside China.
On June 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment for money laundering against the former CFO of the New York-based Epoch Times newspaper. The CCP saw this as an unprecedented opportunity. Because the Epoch Times was founded by a few Falun Gong practitioners, the CCP likely believed they could utilize this event to spread false narratives among the Falun Gong community about this prosecution being the “beginning of suppression of Falun Gong in the U.S.” Notes on the CITIC Foundation’s internal report reveal that CCP agents were explicitly told to “amplify the ‘scandal’” alongside spreading other negative information about Falun Gong globally.
It should be noted that while The Epoch Times was founded by a small group of people that practice Falun Gong, neither the paper’s editorial direction nor its internal operations represent or speak for the Falun Gong faith, or its tens of millions of practitioners around the world; as The New York Times does not speak for the Jewish faith of its publisher.[35]
Piggyback on emerging YouTubers
Although various propaganda and disinformation campaigns are directly instigated by Chinese state or party entities, there are also cases when the regime takes advantage of emerging opportunities and social media influencers that help it achieve its aims. When YouTubers whose goals and content align with CCP foreign influence operations establish a platform and build a following, this naturally attracts the CCP and incentivizes dedication of resources to amplify the attacks against a perceived enemy of the CCP. In some instances, PRC-linked entities have been known to offer funding or other cash incentives to YouTubers in exchange for spreading falsehoods that serve the CCP’s agenda, such as claims that COVID-19 originated in the U.S. deer population.[36]
Regarding the latest campaign against Falun Gong, one of the internal sources relayed that indeed, “all the sources for [one of the YouTubers] come from MPS” intelligence and agents who have been “activated,” indicating he may have had the backing of the CCP from the start, especially given his long-standing ties to CCTV and the regime’s propaganda apparatus. Regarding the U.S.-based YouTuber, the situation appears more likely to be that the MPS observed his successful establishment of a platform, and then mandated staff to “fully support” his propaganda efforts against Falun Gong.
Counter Shen Yun’s meteoric rise on the world’s stage
While Shen Yun Performing Arts has been the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company for many years, its rise on the world’s stage has been unprecedented, especially during a period where many performing arts companies folded. The CCP has targeted Shen Yun since its founding over 15 years ago, with at least 135 incidents of interference by Chinese officials or their proxies documented in 38 countries.[37] Yet, as Shen Yun continued to grow in 2022 and 2023 when its annual tour cover over 200 cities across 5 continents, it likely became clear to the CCP that none of their prior efforts were particularly effective in stopping Shen Yun.
What to Watch For Next
Taking the above information into account, it is important for the U.S. government and others actors (such as social media companies) to consider what might be the next steps in these escalating attacks in order to weigh how they might be pre-empted, countered, or addressed in other ways. Four specific scenarios seem reasonable to expect:
- Social media expansion across platforms and languages: Available evidence indicates that new waves of social media posts and videos will likely begin circulating that make defamatory claims about Shen Yun or Falun Gong, including blatant falsehoods or distorted exposés. To date, most of the content has been on YouTube and in Chinese, but in recent weeks, posts have begun surfacing on X (formerly Twitter) and in English as well. Prior to the latest uptick, there have also been examples of non-Chinese TikTok influencers using the CCP’s demonizing labels about Shen Yun or Falun Gong on that platform. CCP global disinformation campaigns have typically begun in Chinese on a single platform or two then spread to other languages and multiple platforms.[38] Watch for the same pattern to repeat in this case.
- Networks of fake accounts: In recent years, the Chinese regime has become more active in using networks of fake accounts to amplify social media posts or videos that spread falsehoods against CCP enemies or sow discord in foreign democracies.[39] Given the explicit reference to mobilizing the “50-cent army” to support these two YouTubers, watch for evidence showing networks of fake accounts or websites linked to the CCP that amplify this content. In recent weeks, at least two senior staff at Shen Yun have already had people who were impersonating them create fake accounts on X and begin making claims in their name (the accounts were taken down following complaints to the company). Watch also for whether any image manipulation or deepfakes using generative artificial-intelligence tools is used, another emerging tactic in the regime’s global disinformation toolbox.
- Mainstream media: Even as many international news outlets have been highly perceptive and sensitive to CCP propaganda and falsehoods in the cases of other groups targeted by the CCP, the degree of understanding and sophistication regarding Falun Gong has been weaker, resulting in Western media echoing false CCP narratives about the practice, its beliefs, and the violence faced by practitioners in China. The New York Times, mentioned above, and its longer-term problematic track record on Falun Gong is one such example.[40] This creates a major vulnerability that could facilitate the regime’s success in this campaign where others have failed or encountered skepticism. Watch for reports in the New York Times and possibly other outlets that mimic key CCP talking points.
- Strange behavior from purported Falun Gong practitioners: The internal documents make multiple references to the activation of CCP agents within the Falun Gong community or who purport to be Falun Gong practitioners specifically for the purpose of turning the U.S. government against Falun Gong. In the past, there have been examples of fake and weirdly worded emails and letters[41] being sent to theaters, lawmakers, or staff from people claiming to be Falun Gong practitioners with the aim of smearing the practice’s reputation and sabotaging support. Watch for and be skeptical of actions by purported Falun Gong practitioners that appear strange, extreme, or against the U.S. government, including similar emails or even physical protests.
Risks and Implications
The community of Falun Gong practitioners outside China as well as organizations like Shen Yun face serious immediate and long-term ramifications if the CCP succeeds in its campaign to deceive and divide the community and wider public. But the above findings with regards to the CCP’s plans to escalate its offensive against Falun Gong practitioners outside China also has wide-ranging implications for the international community writ large, and for whether democracies like the United States are equipped to fend off well-resourced influence operations from Beijing.
The CCP has a long track record of refining tactics used against one target—including Falun Gong—and then deploying them against others, be they persecuted minorities, human rights lawyers, or foreign critics. In the disinformation realm, Taiwan has been a critical testing ground for the regime, and tactics that first appeared there have later been used in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The current campaign against Falun Gong is a critical test case that ties these two aspects of the regime’s learning curve together. Its outcome will determine how significantly the regime is able to:
- Influence what Americans think, including about other Americans: Should the regime succeed, there is a risk that false information which portrays Falun Gong or Shen Yun negatively will circulate widely, turning parts of the American public against a U.S.-based performing arts company and fellow Americans who are practicing a Chinese meditation and spiritual discipline for health and well-being—all based on distorted or false information. Success in this endeavor would provide significant intelligence and lessons learned to the regime’s security forces, which could then be deployed for other insidious purposes, including electoral manipulation or discrediting of U.S. companies viewed as competitors to favored Chinese firms.
- Manipulate U.S. institutions: In July 2024, two men pled guilty for attempting to bribe a purported IRS official (an actual undercover federal agent) to remove the non-profit status enjoyed by Shen Yun. This displayed a brazen attempt by the CCP to use the United States’ own democratic and governance institutions to achieve its goals, but also U.S. resilience. The regime’s current campaign appears to have a similar aim, to use social media accounts and mainstream media outlets like the New York Times to spread seemingly incriminating information about Falun Gong and to provoke baseless investigations into targeted individuals and organizations. Demonstrating resilience to such schemes would go a long way to deterring future ones, including those aimed at other U.S. targets.
- Destroy an American brand and silence Chinese diaspora voices critical of the CCP: As outlined above, one of the key reasons the regime is targeting Falun Gong practitioners and Shen Yun is because of their success in reaching large audiences with content that runs counter to the CCP’s party line, offers a glimpse of what a China without communism might look like, and exposes the lies underpinning the regime’s anti-Falun Gong propaganda. Should the regime succeed in its campaign to marginalize and dismantle Shen Yun, the United States would lose a precious avenue for countering CCP influence efforts in the United States as well as a global cultural ambassador that displays the best of American diversity and ingenuity. Moreover, who will be their next target? A play about the Tiananmen Massacre? A visual artist holding an exhibition about Tibet? The regime’s diplomats have already made attempts to censor such artistic expression in the United States and Europe in the past. Success in silencing Shen Yun would only galvanize such efforts.
- Divide the Chinese diaspora: Given that much of the content being disseminated thus far is in Chinese, it is particularly poisonous to members of the diaspora including family members, colleagues, or businessowners who know Falun Gong practitioners. Anecdotally, practitioners from different parts of the United States have reported experiencing suspicion from relatives or discrimination in Chinatown generated by this problematic content circulating. They reflect that this reminds them of the early days or the persecution when many Chinese speakers in the United States were deceived by the regime’s demonizing propaganda about Falun Gong. The fact that the CCP—as a foreign authoritarian party—is able, through such an influence operation, to drive a wedge among Chinese Americans or other parts of the diaspora sets a disconcerting precedent.
Recommendations
To pre-empt and counter the above scenarios, immediate action is needed from the U.S. government and others, including the following actions.
1. Approach seemingly outrageous allegations against Falun Gong, Shen Yun with skepticism
Over the past 25 years, the U.S. Congress has passed five resolutions celebrating Falun Gong’s teachings of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, or condemning the Chinese regime’s brutal persecution of its practitioners.[42] Over the past 25 years, hundreds of proclamations, citations, and declarations from governors, mayors, members of congress, and many other government leaders praising Falun Gong’s principles or the inspirational performances of Shen Yun Performing Arts. And thousands of theatregoers have given on-camera interviews celebrating the world-class artistry and hopeful message of Shen Yun.[43] If even a fraction of the hateful propaganda spread by the Chinese regime were true, these widespread and long-standing commendations would not exist.
Yet, with the escalation of the regime’s global campaign to defame Falun Gong, as well as Shen Yun, it is reasonable to expect that various allegations may begin to appear on social media or other trusted sources, even from seemingly credible individuals with no visible ties to the CCP. However, the above documents and past experiences indicate that there is reason to believe the regime and the MPS is operating behind the scenes to “activate” agents as “witnesses” to disseminate such blatantly false or otherwise misleading claims that shed a negative light on Falun Gong or Shen Yun. Those who encounter such information should maintain a healthy degree of skepticism, reach out to Shen Yun or Falun Gong contacts for clarification, or visiting www.faluninfo.net, including its section on “Misconceptions.”
2. Set up communication channels between Falun Gong and key U.S. government offices, social media platforms
With so many Falun Gong practitioners arriving on America’s shores in the wake of the persecution in China, the community is deeply grateful for the welcome received and the liberty enjoyed in the United States. The MPS’s plan to pit Falun Gong against the U.S. government could have dire consequences for the community, and possibly subject U.S. government offices to CCP manipulation. It is vital that government agencies remain vigilant to ensure such schemes are not successful.
Therefore, clear lines of communication should be set-up between Falun Gong representatives and key offices across the U.S. government including the White House, Department of State, Department of Justice, federal law enforcement, and key members of Congress. Should anything happen, quick and clear communication could help curtail any illicit plans by the CCP.
Moreover, relevant U.S. government agencies and officials should assist Falun Gong or Shen Yun representatives in identifying and contacting the appropriate individuals at social media platforms like YouTube, X, Facebook, or cybersecurity companies like Mandiant who work on detecting and dismantling disinformation operations. To date, such companies have provided automated responses or acted on complaints about impersonated accounts, for example, but it has been difficult to pinpoint the appropriate departments to brief more comprehensively on how to identify and counter this new CCP-backed campaign.
3. Open investigations
Available sources indicate that the MPS is actively supporting at least two YouTubers, including “providing them all the negative information about Falun Gong that is held internally by the Ministry.” This means they are acting at the behest of—or at the very least, in concert with—a foreign communist regime, and one that poses the most imminent and wide-ranging risk to the security of the United States. Furthermore, among their stated goals is to deceive and manipulate the U.S. government and its policies toward Falun Gong and Shen Yun. Therefore, a thorough investigation of these individuals is prudent and necessary, both for the safety of Americans who practice Falun Gong, but also for the integrity and security of the U.S. government. Specifically, in the case of the YouTuber who resides in the United States, there is reason to believe he may be acting in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Given the MPS’s mandate to support these YouTubers, it would be prudent to examine online accounts that are actively supporting these YouTubers and conduct forensic analysis of connections between these networks of accounts and prior PRC-linked disinformation campaigns.
4. Fast-track passage of the Falun Gong Protection Act
The Falun Gong Protection Act was passed in June 2024 in the House of Representatives by unanimous voice vote. This important bill now heads to the Senate. Included in this Act is power granted to the Executive Branch to name specific individuals—including high-level Chinese government and military leaders—who have participated (or been complicit) in the persecution of Falun Gong and organ transplant abuses. These individuals could then be targeted with sanctions that block assets and prevent travel visas. Such measures could be very effective in targeting some of the same individuals involved in this campaign, thereby curtailing the MPS’s action plans detailed in this document. It would also be effective at signaling that perpetrators could face future accountability and that the United States is willing to protect Falun Gong, thereby deterring some in the system from participating in the current campaign. On July 31, the bill was introduced in the Senate. It should be adopted in a timely manner and sent to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
It is worth noting that one of the sources of information within the MPS stated that hearing about the initial passage of the Falun Gong Protection Act by the House made the person feel “very powerful, significant, and important,” potentially motivating their efforts to share information that might assist Falun Gong and the U.S. government in resisting the CCP’s attacks. This should serve as a reminder that legislation like the Falun Gong Protection Act is important not only for the legal mechanisms it provides to curtail persecution and bring perpetrators to justice, but also as a beacon of hope to countless Chinese people who see America championing their freedoms and aspirations for a better life.
Endnotes
[1] “What is Falun Gong?,” Falun Dafa Information Center, https://faluninfo.net/what-is-falun-gong-falun-dafa/.
[2] Bay Fang, “An Opiate of the Masses? Millions of Chinese embrace a mystical exercise movement,” U.S. News & World Report, February 14, 1999, https://web.archive.org/web/20120509002028/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/990222/archive_000322_2.htm; Shanghai TV: 100 Million Around the World Are Learning Falun Dafa (1998) [Video]. Faluninfo TV. https://tv.faluninfo.net/shanghai-tv-100-million-around-the-world-are-learning-falun-dafa/; “Statistics & Evidence,” Falun Dafa Information Center, https://faluninfo.net/key-statistics-related-to-falun-gong/.
[3] “‘Changing the soup but not the medicine?’: Abolishing re-education through labor in China,” Amnesty International, December 17, 2013, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/042/2013/en/; “Violent Suppression of 100 Million People,” Falun Dafa Information Center, https://faluninfo.net/violent-suppression-of-100-million-people/.
[4] Falun Dafa Information Center, Falun Gong: 25 Years of Persecution, 25 Years Too Long, July 2024, https://faluninfo.net/falun-gong-25-years-of-persecution-25-years-too-long/.
[5] “Shen Yun ‘Reminds Me of Why I Chose to Study China,’ Professor Says,” The Epoch Times, March 15, 2018, https://www.theepochtimes.com/shenyun/shen-yun-reminds-me%20-of-why-i-chose-to-study-china-professor-says-2-2467005.
[6] On April 23, 2024, this same source warned overseas Chinese-language media organizations critical of the CCP about impending cyber-attacks, which in fact, began two days later, on April 25, 2024. China’s CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies is a strategy and funding organization approved by the CCP State Council in August 2014, and subsequently registered with the CCP Ministry of Civil Affairs. It operates under CITIC (China International Trust Investment Corporation), a state-run investment company: 中信改革发展研究基金会 (CITIC Reform and Development Research Foundation), “Homepage,” accessed August 5, 2024, https://www.foundation.citic/icms/foundation/zh/ns:LHQ6MTMsZjoxOSxjOixwOixhOixtOg==/channel.vsml. Archived version available: https://web.archive.org/web/20240518032637/https://www.foundation.citic/icms/foundation/zh/ns:LHQ6MTMsZjoxOSxjOixwOixhOixtOg==/channel.vsml.
[7] “Illegal Agents of PRC Government Charged in PRC-Directed Bribery Scheme.” Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice, May 26, 2023, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/illegal-agents-prc-government-charged-prc-directed-bribery-scheme.
[8] Levi Browde and Larry Liu, “25 Years On, Falun Gong Still Firmly in Beijing’s Repressive Sights,” The Diplomat, July 10, 2024, https://thediplomat.com/2024/07/25-years-on-falun-gong-still-firmly-in-beijings-repressive-sights/; “Leaked CCP Documents Reveal Chinese Regime’s Global War on Falun Gong,” Falun Dafa Information Center, March 26, 2023, https://faluninfo.net/leaked-ccp-documents-reveal-global-war-on-falun-gong/.
[9] Yuefeng Wu, “The real reason communist China is afraid of Shen Yun,” The Hill, March 4, 2024, https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4500639-the-real-reason-communist-china-is-afraid-of-shen-yun/; Falun Dafa Information Center, Diplomatic Disruptions and Disinformation: Beijing’s Global Drive to Stop Shen Yun, January 2024, https://library.faluninfo.net/diplomatic-disruptions-and-disinformation-beijings-global-drive-to-stop-shen-yun/.
[10] Falun Dafa Information Center, The New York Times’ Falun Gong Distortion, March 2024, https://faluninfo.net/new-york-times-falun-gong-distortion/.
[11] 81 of the 135 documented incidents of interference involved Chinese diplomats, demonstrating the centrally directed and large-scale nature of Beijing’s campaign.
Falun Dafa Information Center, Diplomatic Disruptions and Disinformation: Beijing’s Global Drive to Stop Shen Yun, January 2024, https://faluninfo.net/diplomatic-disruptions-and-disinformation-beijings-global-drive-to-stop-shen-yun/.
[12] Speech by the Director of the 610 Office of the Xianyang Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), August 27, 2010. Document on file with the Falun Dafa Information Center.
[13] “Two Men Plead Guilty to Acting as Illegal Agents of Chinese Government and Bribery,” Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice, July 25, 2024, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-men-plead-guilty-acting-illegal-agents-chinese-government-and-bribery; “U.S. Government Charges CCP Agents for Bribery Scheme Targeting Falun Gong,” Falun Dafa Information Center, May 27, 2023, https://faluninfo.net/us-government-charges-ccp-agents-for-bribery-scheme-targeting-falun-gong/.
[14] “Transnational Repression Updates: New Arrest, Guilty Pleas,” Falun Dafa Information Center, July 29, 2024, https://faluninfo.net/transnational-repression-updates-new-arrest-guilty-pleas/.
[15] “Who Practices Falun Gong?,” Falun Dafa Information Center, https://faluninfo.net/who-practices-falun-gong/.
[16] “On the 25th Anniversary, Government Officials Stand in Solidarity with Falun Gong,” July 25, 2024, https://faluninfo.net/on-the-25th-anniversary-government-officials-stand-in-solidarity-with-falun-gong/.
[17] “Bomb Threats Mark Alarming Escalation in Campaign to Silence Shen Yun,” Falun Dafa Information Center, April 3, 2024, https://faluninfo.net/bomb-threats-mark-new-low-in-campaign-to-silence-shen-yun/.
[18] The names of some additional details about these CCP-supported social media influencers is intentionally withheld from the public version of this report so as to not unduly provide them with additional publicity. These details are available upon request and for private briefings.
[19] Interviews with current and former Shen Yun dancers who wished to remain anonymous, January to July 2024.
[20] Interviews with multiple individuals with direct knowledge of the incident, but who wished to remain anonymous. Records on file with the Falun Dafa Information Center.
[21] Sarah Cook, “Unaffiliated accounts and paid influencers,” Beijing’s Global Media Influence 2022, Freedom House, September 2022, https://freedomhouse.org/report/beijing-global-media-influence/2022/authoritarian-expansion-power-democratic-resilience#Unaffiliated-accounts-and-paid-influencers.
[22] China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is one of the principal organs of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, which oversees law enforcement, security and surveillance, cybersecurity, political security, and international “cooperation.” The MPS is widely regarded as the primary organ of the Chinese regime that engages in political repression, abuse and torture, discrimination, and transnational repression.
In a 2021 press conference by the Ministry of Public Security, Falun Gong was listed as a national security priority ahead of Uyghurs and Tibetans. “公安部新闻发布会通报全国公安机关全力维护国家安全和社会大局稳定工作实效 [The press conference of the Ministry of Public Security reported on the effectiveness of public security agencies across the country in fully safeguarding national security and overall social stability],” Ministry of Public Security, April 16, 2021, https://web.archive.org/web/20230820105546/https:/www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-04/16/content_5599924.htm.
[23] “Deafening Silence,” Falun Dafa Information Center, The New York Times’ Falun Gong Distortion, March 2024, https://faluninfo.net/new-york-times-falun-gong-distortion/#deafening-silence/.
[24] “(河南) 省委防范和处理邪教问题领导小组 2017年工作要点 [Key Points in the 2017 Work of Leading Group for Prevention and Handling of Xie Jiao-related Issues of CCP (Henan) Provincial Committee],” Leading Group for Prevention and Handling of Xie Jiao-related Issues of CCP (Henan) Provincial Committee, 2017, https://www.adhrrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/henan-20170405.pdf.
[25] The “50 Cent Army” is a group of internet commentators/posters who are hired by various branches of the Chinese government to manipulate public opinion online. Some estimates say there are millions of 50-cent army participants.
[26] Fact check details are derived from interviews with dozens of current and former Shen Yun performers from November 2023 – July 2024, which includes reviews of private documents such as medical records voluntarily made available to Falun Dafa Information Center researchers.
[27] These characterizations draw directly from interviews with dozens of current and former Shen Yun performers from November 2023 – July 2024.
[28] Dragon Springs is a 400-acre campus in upstate New York that hosts three distinct yet symbiotic entities: a temple grounds featuring a collection of Buddhist-style temples built in the authentic Tang Dynasty tradition, an educational complex that hosts Fei Tian Academy and Fei Tian College, and the professional training center for Shen Yun Performing Arts.
[29] “Civil Disobedience,” Falun Dafa Information Center, https://faluninfo.net/civildisobedience/.
[30] “Fang Bin, COVID-19 Whistleblower, Detained in Wuhan,” Falun Dafa Information Center, March 24, 2022, https://faluninfo.net/fang-bin/.
[31] Meta, Second Quarter Adversarial Threat Report, August 2023, https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.8562-6/10000000_878173163681285_2523028760863660247_n.pdf?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=b8d81d&_nc_ohc=nUgzDafiER8Q7kNvgERx2tJ&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=00_AYAHWt0owX2uiAF8KnJP-IUj4G-elLnSZYaak8H-_p6R1g&oe=66B5A008.
[32] Jeffrey Knockel and Lotus Ruan, Bada Bing, Bada Boom: Microsoft Bing’s Chinese Political Censorship of Autosuggestions in North America, Citizen Lab, May 19, 2022, https://citizenlab.ca/2022/05/bada-bing-bada-boom-microsoft-bings-chinese-political-censorship-autosuggestions-north-america/.
[33] Details of this case are intentionally withheld from this document to protect the safety of the individual and his or her family still in China. However, a detailed written testimony from this person is available upon request provided its contents can remain secure.
[34] “What a Difference a Strait Makes,” Falun Dafa Information Center, June 8, 2006, https://faluninfo.net/what-a-difference-a-strait-makes/.
[35] “Clarification: The Epoch Times does not represent Falun Gong,” Falun Dafa Information Center, June 13, 2024, https://faluninfo.net/clarification-the-epoch-times-does-not-represent-falun-gong/; “Why Some U.S. Media Peddle CCP Hate?,” Falun Dafa Information Center, 2021, https://tv.faluninfo.net/why-u-s-media-peddles-ccp-hate/.
[36] Sarah Cook, “Harnessing Social Media,” Beijing’s Global Media Influence 2022, Freedom House, September 2022, https://freedomhouse.org/report/beijing-global-media-influence/2022/authoritarian-expansion-power-democratic-resilience#harnessing-social-media.
[37] “CCP Targets Shen Yun,” Falun Dafa Information Center, February 16, 2024, https://faluninfo.net/ccp-targets-shen-yun/.
[38] Vera Bergengruen, “Meta Takes Down ‘Largest Ever’ Chinese Influence Operation,” TIME, August 31, 2023, https://time.com/6310040/chinese-influence-operation-meta/.
[39] Sarah Cook, “China’s Increasingly Aggressive Tactics for Foreign Disinformation Campaigns,” The Diplomat, September 18, 2023, https://thediplomat.com/2023/09/chinas-increasingly-aggressive-tactics-for-foreign-disinformation-campaigns/.
[40] Falun Dafa Information Center, The New York Times’ Falun Gong Distortion, March 2024, https://faluninfo.net/new-york-times-falun-gong-distortion/.
[41] “Chinese Agents Send New Round of Fraudulent Emails to Western Governments, NGOs,” Falun Dafa Information Center, April 20, 2011, https://faluninfo.net/chinese-agents-send-new-round-of-fraudulent-emails-to-western-governments-ngos/.
[42] “U.S. Government Actions,” Falun Dafa Information Center, https://faluninfo.net/united-states-government/. The resolutions include House Concurrent Resolution 218 (1999), House Concurrent Resolution 188 (2002), House Concurrent Resolution 304 (2004), House Resolution 605 (2010), and House Resolution 343 (2016).
[43] “From the Audience,” Shen Yun Performing Arts, https://www.shenyun.org/videos/reviews.
