Huawei Spreading False Information On Social Media To Influence Consumers

Chinese technology giant Huawei is still trying to influence public opinion with the help of social media campaigns that allegedly spread false information from employees.

As reported by the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, Huawei has continued to try to use various social media to spread content that is supposed to put the company in a better light-based on false facts, despite media reports that were last made the rounds in January 2021.

Employees as multipliers of fake news?

The report claims that several high-ranking Huawei employees in Europe had apparently artificially or superficially increased the number of followers on Twitter. The followers were simply “bought“, as it is called. Among other things, a relatively small team of eight or nine Huawei employees is said to be behind those campaigns, for which a network of some news websites was supposedly set up to disseminate the articles on various topics.

However, articles were allegedly published on these pages from time to time that was positive about Huawei or its activities or products as well as statistics. The corresponding reports were then disseminated by the Twitter accounts of Huawei employees with their artificially increased number of followers in order to influence the public’s perception.

Corresponding attempts have already been made at earlier times. Huawei’s Dutch subsidiary has now denied any kind of involvement by the company in such marketing attempts, according to the new report. The spread of false information violates internal guidelines. An investigation into the circumstances behind the dubious marketing campaign has now been initiated, the company said.