Microsoft collaborated with state-run Chinese media outlets to disseminate propaganda, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The agreements, signed in 2016 and 2018, were not widely reported outside China. They involved Microsoft providing technology to China Daily to target potential readers, and providing an artificial intelligence bot to People’s Daily, controlled and censored by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The deals allowed Microsoft to extend its services to the Chinese market, with the company aiming to deepen its presence and contribute to the country’s scientific research.
The company has a history of partnerships with Chinese entities dating back to the 1990s, and there is little evidence to suggest reconsideration of its extensive business relationships in China. On the contrary, they have been growing even stronger.
In 2021, Microsoft China’s president lauded the country as the “most dynamic and innovative place in the world,” and hailed its totalitarian Covid pandemic response.
In that same year, Communist dictator Xi Jinping visited Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, to discuss global collaboration on areas such as health care, energy, and data sciences.
And just yesterday, Microsoft President Brad Smith met with China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao to discuss “topics ranging from artificial intelligence to trade relations between Washington and Beijing,” according to CNBC.
News of Microsoft facilitating CCP propaganda comes as no surprise, as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has a soft spot for China, which he has praised on many occasions. Xi, in turn, regards Gates as an “old friend.” Their collaboration is designed to benefit both the people of America and China and humanity as a whole, said the CCP leader earlier this year.
