China’s Internet Trolls Target Chinese Blogger for Exposing Food Safety Concerns: Expert

Vendors sell preserved food at a market in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, China, on Jan. 23, 2005. China Photos/Getty Images

A Chinese blogger took down his online videos on food safety issues due to alleged complaints from social media users. However, China experts believe that the authorities used internet trolls to target the influencer because his videos exposed corruption in the food industry.

In June, Xing Jifei started an online video series called “Tech and Daring” on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, informing viewers on how food additives are used in producing popular foods in China.

His videos went viral quickly; within a month, Xing’s blog site garnered 6.5 million followers.

Aside from warning the public of food safety issues, China affairs experts said that Xing’s videos exposed corruption and the Chinese regime’s failure to regulate the food industry.

‘Tech-Hacked’ Foods

In his videos, Xing revealed various “tech-hacked” foods made with lots of soy protein and artificial ingredients, such as meat-free “meatballs,” meat-free “beef steak,” nut-free “peanut sauce,” as well as fake honey.

Many viewers were appalled.

Some of the comments were: “I will never dine out again,” “I would never dare to visit the street diners,” and “My mom has told me to quit ‘food delivery’ for years, but I never listened. But just a few videos of Xing’s persuaded me to do so.”

Steamed meat and vegetable buns on sale in Beijing on July 15, 2007. China’s safety standards have come under sharp international criticism amid regular reports of fake, shoddy, or dangerous goods emanating from the nation’s chaotic and corrupt food and drug industry. Teh Eng Koon/AFP/Getty Images

Censorship

The popularity of Xing’s videos invited criticism from China’s Food Industry Association, which offers a consumer guide to food safety issues based on “scientific research.”

The association accused Xing’s videos of exaggerating the harmful effects of food additives.

Some individual business owners in the food and beverage industry released online videos in which they accused Xing of hurting their businesses.

In mid-September, Xing received multiple warnings from Douyin’s customer service department, claiming that his videos received many complaints.

According to one blogger, Xing posted his decision to cancel his social media account on Sept. 22. The blog site was officially taken down on Sept. 28.

Despite the alleged complaints, Xing had many followers.

Chinese blogger Mu Chen posted, “We were told not to walk the old path of the West: pollute first, resolve second. Then why are there so many cancer villages [in China]?

“The ‘Tech and Daring’ is a hero [who stands up] against the regulators’ indulgence, lax standards, and diminished public conscience.”

In 2013, Beijing admitted the existence of so-called cancer villages for the first time. State-run media Xinhua reported that there were more than 400 cancer villages across 27 provinces at the time. Chinese environmental activists claimed that there was a correlation between increased cancer rates and pollution, and authorities have failed to enforce environmental regulations and punish violators.

China observer Wang He said that Xing’s videos had threatened the vested interests of regulators such as China’s food and drug agency and various groups in the food industry.

“Governmental oversight of industry and commerce doesn’t exist in China, as the government and enterprises are the same entity,” Wang told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Sept. 30.

He believed that Xing’s site was attacked by internet trolls, suggesting that authorities and businesses were working together to suppress the blogger, who they also regarded as a whistleblower.

The regime tasks Internet trolls to promote content favorable to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). According to a 2017 research paper by Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of California San Diego, the Chinese regime hired around 2 million people or internet trolls to fabricate and post about 448 million social media comments a year.

The Corrupt Supervisory Board

According to public records, the Beijing-based Food Industry Association, an advisory board of the food industry, has invested in 12 companies and 25 projects in different industries, including food manufacturing, film and entertainment, advertising, and retail.

Various Chinese media have described the agency as a “player” and a “referee” in the food industry.

A Chinese blogger criticized the agency, saying, “The so-called authority is simply a self-given title, like the dairy industry association that gave rise to the melamine-tainted infant formula incident, the sausage association linked to the clenbuterol-contaminated pork. [The Food Industry Association] is at most a marketing and sales rep under the cloak of science.”

Li Yuanhua, a historian in Australia, told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Sept. 30 that Xing’s videos exposed the Chinese food industry’s corrupt practices, such as achieving low-cost production by using illegal and toxic chemicals as ingredients.

He said, “Most people aren’t aware of the danger of these chemicals.” Moreover, Li added that the CCP’s lack of morale is the cause of the chaotic food industry in China.

As a result, food safety issues have caused many health risks to the Chinese.

Workers produce food at the Shanghai Husi Food Co., part of the OSI Group, a U.S. food processor, in Shanghai, in this undated photo. Shanghai city officials have shut down the plant for producing fast-food products using expired meat. STR/AFP/Getty Images

Cancer Villages

According to GLOBOCAN 2020, an online database providing global cancer statistics and estimates of incidence and mortality, “China accounted for 24% of newly diagnosed cases and 30% of the cancer-related deaths worldwide in 2020.”

China tops the world in both newly diagnosed cases and cancer-related deaths, according to a Chinese media report in February 2021.

In 2020, there were an estimated 4.57 million new cancer cases and 3 million cancer deaths, with lung, colorectal, and stomach cancer as the three most prevalent cancers; and Heilongjiang, Guangdong, Jilin, Hubei, Inner Mongolia with the highest cases.

“In China, cancer mortality is high, and gastrointestinal cancers account for 45% of all cancer deaths in 2020,” according to the Chinese Medical Journal.

On Sept. 23, the CCP’s National Health Commission adopted a “whole-process management method” to oversee the treatment of 220,000 childhood cancer patients for “better allocation of medical resources,” according to the state mouthpiece report.

Leukemia, brain tumor, and lymphoma are the top three most common cancers in children, according to a 2015 research paper on China’s childhood cancer.

Wang said it is embarrassing for the CCP that China is home to a larger number of cancer cases.

He said, “This is a shame for China and a scandal for the regime. But the CCP uses the so-called whole-process management method to conceal and downplay its sins and turn it into praise for its crime.”

Luo Ya and Fang Xiao contributed to this report.