Key Takeaways of New Report by FalunInfo.net
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.
Read the full report at FalunInfo.net
