Chinese Government Suspected of Unleashing Astroturfers Against Apple

An anonymous reader writes "A piece attacking Apple's treatment of Chinese consumers that aired on official government TV last week was followed by a wave of anti-Apple posts on Weibo (China's equivalent of Twitter) by Chinese celebrities. On the China-watching site Tea Leaf Nation, Liz Carter reports that sharp-eyed Weibo users noticed something funny about one such post from an actor and singer named Peter Ho: 'Cannot believe Apple is playing so many dirty tricks in customer service. As an Apple fan, I feel hurt...Need to post around 8:20 pm.' What was this 'need to post at 8:20 pm' business? After Weibo lit up with sarcastic tags such as #PostAround820, Ho claimed (rather unconvincingly) that someone must have hacked his account and posted the anti-Apple 'Weibo'. Mike Elgan at CultOfMac notes a parallel with the Chinese government's rough handling of Google in 2009, which led to Google's closing of its mainland operations. Google claimed that government commissioned hackers had apparently stolen search engine source code, Gmail messages and other user data. An earlier article by Elgan on Datamation notes the uneasy business relationship between Apple and China."

Why government?

[Anonymous Coward]

A lot of Chinese companies are real s**ts, and a lot of Chinese companies make their own Android handsets.

IMHO, follow the money. It will be paid for troll turf from one of the China handset makers.

Also why do you think the Chinese government is some sort of magic all seeing, all acting entity? Realistically they want to project that image, but part of the reason China is such a wild west is because the Chinese government is so corrupt and no-seeing.

That's why companies like this don't fear smear tactics. Because they can always pay a bribe and walk away.

Transnationals do the same thing

[jnmontario]

Frankly, nothing China does surprises me anymore. Rather, I think the surprising thing is that people don't want to accept massive manipulation of product presence online by transnationals and major corporations that do exactly what China is being accused of here.

China should love Apple!

[Anonymous Coward]

China and Apple have the same mentality:

We know what is best for you, and we will not give you any choice about that.

They're cut from the same mold.

Foxconn

[udachny]

Apple production facilities are in China already, aren't they? Foxconn if I am not mistaken? If Chinese GOVERNMENT wanted to hurt Apple, they'd start there.

This is not government by itself, this is some competitor using his ties to the government channels maybe?

Re:Foxconn

[Anonymous Coward]

If the government went after the Apple-Foxconn relationship, it would be obvious that they want to hurt Apple, which would draw condemnation. They don't want that; they want a groundswell of "the little people" patriotically choosing to boycott Apple in order to hurt Apple. This is the entire purpose of Astroturfing -- altering public perception WITHOUT being obvious.

Re:Why government?

[Concerned Onlooker]

What we did to them? While I fully believe the US is culpable for the woes of many places in the world I think the greatest enemy of the Chinese is the Chinese. The US didn't support Mao and the US was not complicit in the building of a police state in China.

Sick of this 'got hacked' nonsense.

[Gadget27]

This has to be the third or fourth story I read in recent weeks where someone made a post or tweet that was either inappropriately worded, or outright incorrect for its purpose, as this one looks to be. In all these cases, the account owners shrug it off as their account being hacked, as if it's something so common it happens to all of us weekly, in order to cover their ass.
It seems 'my account got hacked' is quickly becoming the 21st century 'my dog ate my homework' bullshit excuse. Let's just be sure not to forget the 'bullshit' part of that.

Re:Why government?

[MightyYar]

IMHO, follow the money.

I'd say it's even simpler than that. A classic method of deflecting criticism is to set up an external boogeyman. People are starting to demand employment rights from the government. The government could change, or they could set up some big, bad, foreign companies to take the rap.

The only surprise is that they didn't choose a Japanese corporation. Oh, wait, they did... [nytimes.com]

Re:Why government?

[Anonymous Coward]

China has more reason to bear a grudge against European countries, who were there raping China long before the US (regrettably) joined in. The US at the very least used part of its Boxer Rebellion indemnity to establish Tsinghua University, and later aided the country against Japanese expansion through lend lease and volunteer fighters, and yet again after the Sino-Soviet split, oh and once more with Most Favored Trading Nation.

What has Europe done to pay for its transgressions against China?

Re:Why government?

[icebike]

A lot of Chinese companies are real s**ts, and a lot of Chinese companies make their own Android handsets.

IMHO, follow the money. It will be paid for troll turf from one of the China handset makers.

Also why do you think the Chinese government is some sort of magic all seeing, all acting entity? Realistically they want to project that image, but part of the reason China is such a wild west is because the Chinese government is so corrupt and no-seeing.

That's why companies like this don't fear smear tactics. Because they can always pay a bribe and walk away.

If you ask me its it's no different than the fawning western press suddenly showing up with Apple articles when any other phone manufacturers release new phones. With nothing new on the table or in the product pipeline, you can count on at least a half dozen stories showing up in newspapers, websites, and blogs when ever Apple feels a little bit left out or needs some good news to counter some new product push from some random Android manufacturer.

Convince me these don't start with a phonecall from apple headquarters, or an email marked confidential, listing story "ideas" and a "must be published by" date.

If anything this is probably the Chinese government or some manufacturer taking a card out of Apple's playbook and doing it poorly.

What goes around, comes around.

Re:Why government?

[fredprado]

A company does not need to be multinational to be in the global market. Being multinational gives you some advantages in this but it is not necessary by any means.

On the other hand, the real motive to go multinational is being able to evade taxes, use cheaper labor, and evade inconvenient laws.

Re:Why government?

[BasilBrush]

There is no limit to the paranoia of Fandroids.

Re:Why government?

[SvnLyrBrto]

> What has Europe done to pay for its transgressions against China?

The generations that transgressed died off. The current generation has done nothing to them and should not be held to blame for the actions of old dead people to whom they happen to be related.

I know it's a cultural thing in some places to hold generations-long grudges against people for the "sins of their fathers". But I've never understood it. And I'll never accept it. And if that's one area where I'm just culturally-insensitive, that's one insensitivity I can live with.

Re:Blah

[stenvar]

Slashdot is turning into a hypocritical pro-USA outlet

Slashdot is, and has always been, a US site.

with all this demonizing of China.

You can't "demonize" a demon. China is still a corrupt communist dictatorship.

I think the Chinese should stop beating around the bush and just kick all big American corporations out of their country.

They tried isolationism for a few centuries and it didn't work: the West surpassed them technologically and economically and then kicked their butts. The Chinese leadership is corrupt and totalitarian, but it isn't stupid. They keep Western companies in China to steal their technology, and the West plays along because we get cheap consumer goods. It's probably a reasonable deal, since technology is as short lived as a Chinese-made Barbie doll.

Re:China should love Apple!

[DavidinAla]

This is one of the most idiotic comments ever posted here, but some people hate Apple so much that it's currently modded as "insightful." To compare Apple to a totalitarian government isn't just ignorant, but it's offensive, not offensive to Apple or its customers, but to the millions and millions of people around the world who truly DON'T have a choice. If you don't like what Apple sells, you simply don't buy the product. If you want something other than what they Chinese government allows you to have, you can be put into prison or killed for asking for it. In a market economy, you have choices. Whatever Apple makes in a category is a choice. You have others. If you truly think you have no choice because Apple provides A DIFFERENT CHOICE THAN THE ONE YOU WANT, you're an idiot and a fool.

Re:Why government?

[Solandri]

There was no need to infer. You specifically referred to Bhopal, which was the Indian subsidiary of a U.S. company.

Also, I disagree with your assertion that the Chinese are simply parroting what they learned from the West. I'm Asian, and the widespread Confucian ideals mean that it's very common for Asians to prioritize the group (be it family, company, or country) over the individual. What you see going on in Chinese companies is what happens when you take the Western concept of capitalism, and remove the West's strong sense of protecting individual liberties. Heck, the Chinese government's entire premise driving their rapid industrialization in the last 20 years is that by sacrificing protections for individual laborers, they can keep wages and costs artificially low, which will attract more foreign business and investments, thus allowing the country to modernize more quickly. That is, the needs of the country in the future mean the needs of the individuals today can be overlooked.

Re:Why government?

[bryan1945]

Seriously. "Fawning media over Apple?" I must live in an alternate US.

Re:Why government?

[AmiMoJo]

Wow, you don't normally see that kind of overt racism unless you are at war. My girlfriend happens to be Chinese (doesn't speak English, lives in Japan) and neither she nor any of her friends I have met/spoken to online are like that.

I thought we were long past Ming the Merciless style stereotypes and bigotry, but I guess not.

Re:China should love Apple!

[DavidinAla]

If you think that a government that kills and imprisons people for wanting to choose something different is a "similar philosophy" to a company which makes a product in a way that you wouldn't choose, you're as stupid as he is. That's the whole freaking point. It's not a "similar philosophy." One philosophy is, "You will do what we tell you." The other is, "Here's what we think is the best product possible; we want you to choose to buy it."