ALERT: China Daily’s new Tiktok account amasses millions in engagement despite having no content

PressOnePH
PH Protect Project

UPDATE: The TikTok page has posted three new videos, amassing a total of 807 views and eleven likes, and subsequently unfollowed all previously followed accounts upon PressOnePH’s discovery of the page last April.

After video-streaming site TikTok banned state-run China Daily’s account @mediaunlocked from its platform, a new account with a similar name and logo has surfaced, already amassing hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of likes despite having no content posted.

The new Tiktok account “@qǐdímediaunlocked” (qǐdí meaning enlightenment), has garnered around 328,300 followers and 8.4 million likes, 1.4 million more than that of the previous account’s. It also uses the same handle for Instagram and Threads.

PressOnePH discovered the TikTok page on April 26 while investigating ongoing influence operations in the Philippines.

A closer look at @qidimediaunlock’s followers list revealed that almost all of its followers hailed from Spanish-speaking regions who post content unrelated to the South China Sea dispute, suggesting that these followers were purchased from online growth services.

The account follows 41 other pages, all of which are from Spanish-speaking regions as well, apart from @barstoolsports which is an American-run sports blog.

Before it was initially taken down last month, the @mediaunlocked Tiktok page has been the subject of multiple alerts from PressOne.PH due to its coverage of the South China Sea dispute.

In late February, @mediaunlocked released a video accusing the Philippines of deploying maritime militia disguised as fishermen looking to catch fish at Scarborough Shoal, a traditional fishing ground, which it refers to as “Huangyan Island.”

It also erroneously claimed that Manila has no legal basis to assert rights over Scarborough Shoal and Ayungin Shoal, despite both features located within the Philippines’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, as affirmed by a 2016 international arbitration ruling.

On March 11, @mediaunlocked shared a video criticizing PressOne.PH for reporting on its TikTok content, alleging the news outlet to be “unprofessional” and “USA-propaganda funded.”

The account then played the victim after it was flooded by negative comments from users apparently unconvinced by its narrative. Nikko Balbedina

This report was made possible by an Internews project to build the capacity of news organizations in understanding disinformation and influence operations in the Philippines.