Pro-China Twitter Accounts Flood Hashtag Critical of Beijing Winter Olympics

February 8, 2022

Researchers say many accounts are largely automated and are meant to drown out calls by advocacy groups to boycott the Beijing Games

Pro-China accounts have been flooding Twitter with messages that include the hashtag #GenocideGames, in what researchers say is an effort to dilute the hashtag’s power to galvanize criticism of the Winter Olympics host nation.

Human-rights advocates and Western lawmakers have used the #GenocideGames hashtag to raise awareness about Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China where authorities have conducted forcible assimilation efforts against religious minorities, including Uyghur Muslims. Xinjiang has become a focal point for critics of China’s policies ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which began last week.

Read the full article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/pro-china-twitter-accounts-flood-hashtag-critical-of-beijing-winter-olympics-11644343870