Hina Khan Palwasha
If you are unable to find the very famous Shen Yun advertising during the global pandemic, perhaps something else has took its place. An endless array of YouTube ads, some of which are even promoted by President Donald Trump himself. Although not present as Shen Yun billboard anymore, the Epoch Times certainly is on its way to expand its reach and strengthen its hold as one of Trump’s preferred “news” outlets.
The Times website seem to be a standard news source at start, but a note at the top of the screen shows the real purpose it serves.
“During the fallout of the 2020 presidential election, we are giving you, your family and your friends, unlimited access to almost all of our reporting for free so that you can be truly informed.”
“Our investigative reporters uncovered disturbing evidence of the Chinese Communist Party interfering with the 2020 US Election. Enter your email and receive the exclusive investigative infographic for free,” it reads, before a solicitation to enter your email address to “continue reading.”
The Epoch Times, which is now one of the leading sellers of pro-Trump propaganda on the internet, started as a media arm affiliated with Falun Gong, the same Chinese spiritual organization that set up Shen Yun dance shows.
Falun Gong, a religious movement founded in the early 1990’s by Li Hongzhi promises spiritual enlightenment to its followers through meditation, exercise, and Buddhist traditions. Through various supernatural practices, Li claims that he can levitate and sometimes speaks of extraterrestrials as a corrupting influence on humanity. The practice also denounces homosexuality and feminism publicaly.
To Chinese Government’s surprise, late 90s was flourishing era for Falun Gong, as he had millions of followers. Thus, it resulted in a brutal crackdown by the government in which human rights advocates claim that Falun Gong supporters might have been tortured and killed.
In 2000, the Epoch Times was established in the United States with a purpose of covering up the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese government. Though it won some awards and was quite successful initially but something changed in 2016 after Trump’s election. The publication had found its natural ally against the Chinese government and communism as a whole.
After that, although Falun Gong has repeatedly denied any association with the Epoch Times, Li called them “our media.” The publication, however, often publishes stories promoting Shen Yun’s performances.
Today, the website runs for the sole purpose of questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election however till date, no journalist or Trump’s legal team have found reliable evidence of widespread voter fraud. The website is home to many conspiracy theories as well. In 2018, they published a “complete overview” of Spygate, a fraudulent fabrication that a spy from the Obama administration tried to disrupt Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Spygate is popular among believers in QAnon.
Then in 2020 COVID-19 came. Referring COVID-19 as “CCP virus” a reference to the Chinese Communist Party, Epoch Times’ editorial board claims that the virus may have been made in the Wuhan laboratory and went so far as to run a piece claiming that denouncing communism cures COVID-19. “Staying away from the CCP and condemning the CCP can help any individual, organization, or country alleviate or even avoid attacks of the CCP virus,” it reads.
Like Shen Yun, the Epoch Times relies on advertising blitzes to increase its reach. An October 2020 investigation by New York Times’ Kevin Roose found a number of pages on Facebook linked to the Epoch Times, each full of “funny videos and clickbait virus”. Roose reported that $ 1.5 million were spent over seven months to increase its reach for Facebook through ads. Once the content is clickable with click-through content, Epoch Times hits readers with subscription offers.
In August 2019, following its advertisement ban from the Facebook, the Times then tried YouTube. The next year NBC News reported 3 billion views on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter in a single month on its content from the Epoch Times and its video counterpart New Tang Dynasty (NTD). That was quite more reach than any other standard news publisher.
As its Trump-sponsored content grew, so did its reach to Trump’s world. According to the Washington Post, Trump’s administration granted special access to Epoch Times for hosting “American Thinking Leaders”, a series of interviews from Team Trump including General Michael Flynn, Newt Gingrich, Sidney Powell, Alan Dershowitz and Rep. Devin Nunes – two months ago. And, in Falun Gong’s big win, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also mentioned the party in a statement saying “The Chinese Communist Party’s war on faith targets Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Falun Gong devotees alike. The Party spares no one”.
Although with Trump loosing White House, the publication might lose its most influential support as Biden presidency might drop some traffic, but according to a few reports by their former employees, they have other funding sources as well, such as ad revenue and donations from big Falun Gong sponsors. In addition, The Daily Beast reports that Trump mega-donor Robert Mercer’s secretive hedge funded the Epoch Times with $900,000.
