An investigation by ProPublica and KQED radio in San Francisco has confirmed WeChat is a source of misinformation to Chinese American voters.
A team of reporters found at least two dozen groups have been circulating flyers that the Department of Homeland Security is mobilizing the National Guard and military to defend against any rioting on election day.
The goal of the misinformation is to frighten Chinese American voters and get them to stay home and not vote if they have not already done so.
“We’re really concerned about making sure we get some good counterinformation, facts out there so that people are not discouraged because this is the last stretch,” said Shaw San Liu, executive director of the Chinese Progressive Association in San Francisco.
The National Guard has called the flyer “categorically false.”
Much of the misinformation, according to the report, is intended to boost support for Donald Trump and away from the Democrats.
Ironically, the Trump administration has been working to ban WeChat in the United States.
A report in the NY Times just last year found much of the information on WeChat is filtered through a nationalist pro-China lens. If a Chinese American citizen criticizes the Chinese government, they are often labeled a traitor in large WeChat groups.
WeChat has also been used to mobilize Chinese Americans around conservative causes. When a grand jury convicted New York police officer Peter Liang in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, organizers used WeChat to rally support for Liang who they say was being scapegoated for Gurley’s death.
On the positive side, WeChat has been used to help Chinese immigrants adjust to American life.
Late last month, The Star reported that WeChat is also used in Canada to flood Chinese Canadians with misinformation. Some of that misinformation has been tied to hate speech.
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