propaganda chief leading efforts related to the 2019-20 coronavirus epidemic.

2-18-20  The propaganda department in virus-stricken HubeiProvince has engaged over 1,600 censors to scrub the internet of “sensitive” information relating to the coronavirus outbreak, according to an internal document obtained by the Epoch Times.  The internal report, dated Feb. 15, detailed the agency’s efforts to ramp up censorship measures.  It was drafted after a speech given by Chinese leader Xi Jinping via video link on Feb. 10 to “frontline responders” of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, where the virus first broke out....The trolls, through technological and manual screening, had identified as many as 606,800 posts online with “sensitive or harmful information,” it said. As of Feb. 14, the online censors had deleted as many as 54,000 such “rumors” and had social media influencers write nearly 400 commentary articles to shape the narrative.  https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-chinese-regime-deploys-1600-internet-trolls-to-suppress-information-on-coronavirus_3242454.html

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According to the Washington Post, the 50 Cent Army/50 Cent Party is basically a collection of paid trolls that China has hired to manipulate the public opinion in favor of the government.  As of 2016, there were close to 500 million fake accounts dedicated to this cause.  The initiative was created in 2004 to coincide with the country's growing censorship and was revealed to the public through a massive hack of the Chinese government in 2014.https://www.complex.com/music/2019/11/50-cent-discovers-china-paid-trolls-50-cent-army-i-just-want-to-be-part-of-it

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9-12-18    The strategy involves cadres of people who would open social-media accounts and publish internet content to shape public opinion directly, Chen Yixin, the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC), said at a Sept. 4 meeting with senior officials.  PLAC controls China’s security apparatus.

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January 2017, Chen was appointed as the Communist Party Secretary of Wuhan and deputy party secretary of Hubei.^[4]   In March 2018, Chen Yixin succeeded Wang Yongqing as the Secretary-General of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.^[5]  In 2020, Chen, serving Premier Li Keqiang and Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, was announced to be leading efforts related to the 2019-20 coronavirus epidemic. ^{[6]       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Yixin}

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2-12-20  Chen Yixin has been parachuted into Wuhan as deputy head of the team overseeing the handling of the outbreak. Photo: Handout     https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3050087/beijing-pins-hopes-guy-emperors-sword-restore-order-coronavirus