The Slovak influencer would spread Chinese propaganda for money. They caught her

Rachel Karnižová could not come in person to meet with the representative of Chinaseeing, Čestmír Svoboda. She was sick at that time. Her partner Pavel Mareš sat in the company’s office.

When the Slovak influencerke offered a 12-day trip to China for free along with a 500-euro reward for each day of stay, she did not hesitate. She agreed through a video call.

This reward was to be collected for filming in China. It was supposed to enjoy how varied Chinese culture was, admire Chinese monuments and praise how well it is.

And at the same time, it subliminated to spread Chinese propaganda about how amazing, modern and prosperous China is. There was no word on the authoritarian regime of the Communist Party of China or about suspicion of human rights violations.

The aim was to improve the image of China, but Rachel did not understand.

She had no problem with any of what the agency required from it. She was even willing to be able to shoot in speeches of joy that the Chinese election was won by the ruling Communist Party of China. Through the video call she showed how she was looking forward.

There was no warning light.

Wasn’t the only one to catch. Well -known Czech youtuber Martin Mikyska alias Mikýř with the same offer addressed up to 40 personalities of the Czechoslovak Internet. He offered the same to everyone – a reimbursed trip to China and a fee in exchange for praise for a great life in China. Seven influencers caught on the hook.

All this was supposed to be used to support domestic tourism. The opposite was true.

Suspicious did not seem anything

In recent years, the influence of Chinese propaganda, which aims to improve the perception of the authoritarian regime of the Communist Party of China, has repeatedly led to the Czechoslovak Internet.

A few months ago He put on a trip to China to invite Czech tiktoker Honza Michálekto which the agency reimbursed a stay in the province of Sinjiang. No, you did not go there to see the reeducational camps that the Chinese government set up for the local minority of the Ujgurov, he went to enjoy the beauties of Chinese nature and culture.

YouTuber Martin Mikyska therefore wanted to test whether despite the Michálková case, the creators will be willing to travel to China in exchange for money.

The seven creators agreed with the offer to dozens of influencers through a fictitious Chinaseeeing agency.

Bára Mlejnková, Táňa Bystroňová, Natalie Smutná, Pavel Mareš, Lada Kašparová, Rachel Karnižová and Stanislava Lučková.

The last two names belong to Slovaks. Stanislav Lučková won the second series of reality show Rose for the bride, Rachel Carnižová competed in the hunting of Iceland or Survivore. Last time she made an unexpected announcement of pregnancy with her friend Pavel Mareš alias Pufflick, who represented her at the meeting.

The influencer did not seem suspicious almost none of what Mikýř prepared for them.

In the meeting room they met with Čestmír Svoboda, in fact Czech actor Patrik Děrgel, and the agency was also represented by « Mr. Dong » from China. In fact, it was not a citizen of Chinese nationality, but a hired actor of Vietnamese origin. None of the creators noticed it.

We don’t have to label it

Accepting an invitation to a business deal with the Chinese agency does not necessarily mean that the influencer plans to deliberately spread Chinese propaganda. However, the situation can change quickly when the agency begins to name the conditions that need to be met in China.

Pavel Mareš, along with Rachel, connected through the video call, sat in the meeting room, while Mr. Svoboda presented them with all the specific requirements of Chinaseeing. « In fact, it is not very much about what to say, but rather what not to say, » he started.

In the framework contract, which was finally signed by Mareš with Rachel, the influencers were required not to comment on the independence of Taiwan at all, not to talk about protests on the Square of Heavenly Peace Tchien-An-Men, where in the year in the year 1989 There was mass protests and a massacre of demonstrators, nor did they mention anything about the situation in Tibet or Ujgur’s autonomous areas.

According to the Treaty, the creators should not even mention the teddy bear of the DP, which in recent years has become a symbol of protest against the Chinese government and President Si Jin-pching.

« Look, you could also go to the Sheina factory, » says Mareš, his partner Rachel, when Mr. Dong suggests it. Shein is one of the largest fast-fashion chains in the world, in the past He has been facing allegations of exploitation in his factories several timeswhere employees are said to work up to 75 hours a week.

Rachel censorship, propaganda and exploitation were not interested. Despite the video call, she was particularly interested in whether the agency would be able to « reimburse the lost profit » for the days they would have to spend in China.

It did not want to label in the contributions that it is cooperation with the Chinese Chinaseeing agency Chinaseeeing did not want money for the promotion of « Chinese cultural, political and economic harmony ». Neither Mr. Svoboda nor Mr. Dong required it from her.

« I wouldn’t have solved it. If you don’t require it from us, I wouldn’t mention it at all, » she said with a smile. Finally, she and her partner Mareš also showed a celebration reaction to the agency to show in the video if they had just learned that the elections in China were won by the Communist Party of China.

Celebration of the Victory in the elections

Part of the influencers did not learn from the Honza case. The creators who were willing to sign a framework agreement directly in place, finally announced that Mikýř announced that the planning of residence in China will be postponed for the time being and will continue later.

Immediately on the opening side of the Framework Agreement, the address was addressed as the address of the China People’s Government and the headquarters of the Communist Party of China.

None of them had the effort to find out exactly what he signed with, who he plans to work with and what it implies.

None of them had taken and left the room as soon as Mr. Svoboda explained that the « Chinese island of Taiwan » will also be part of the itinerary.

When the Czechoslovak Internet scene solved the case of Honza Michálka, Veronika Blablová of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies foundedThat, judging by Tektoker himself, he did not travel to China with the intention of spreading Chinese propaganda.

He himself stated that he did not even ask the agencies what the shots of the stay were to serve. « They make it to Chinese television or the Chinese media website, probably for Czechs or for Chinese who learn Czech. I don’t know something like that, but it doesn’t matter, » He noted in the podcast Hype-Cast.

« Nevertheless, his words show that there was no intention of the Chinese propaganda somehow help. There is a lot of naivety and insufficient evaluation of the available information, » Blabova said in Podcaste 5:59 on the portal Seznam Report. Everything suggests that the same situation was repeated this time, with a different cast of creators.

This is all the more paradoxical that the partner of Rachel Karnižová Pavel Mareš at the end of last year at Tektokera Michálka for cooperation with the Chinese agency publicly attacked. Or he tried at least in the Prague club, where they both hit each other.

Mareš wanted to interview with Michálka, which did not seem to Tikoker because he repeated the same sentence to him: « I would like to ask you one geographical question. » He responded to the fact that at that time just came to know that Michálek traveled to China free of charge and received a financial reward for it.

A few months later, Mareš sat in the meeting room with Mr. Svoboda and Mr. Dong, who was willing to show how authentically he could enjoy the win of the Communist Party of China in the elections. He did not think about any geographical question.

Rachel rejects propaganda

Influencer Ráchel Karnižová already on the video of the Czech youtubera managed to respond on the social network Instagram. In his own words, he is currently considering legal steps because the author of the video has misled it and secretly recorded it.

Legal steps, according to his statement on Instagram, is also considering a second Slovak influencer who could be caught – Stanislava Lučková.

Carnižová claims that the original offer looked completely different than Mikýř finally presented in the video. « Cooperation was supposed to take the form of acting participation in a fictitious project. We were not required to promote the product, services or political idea on social networks, » he writes in Storke.

In her words, she and her partner Mareš were addressed in the project mainly on the basis that both have experience work before camera.

She has decisively refused accusations that she would be willing to spread Chinese propaganda for a financial reward. « We would never have paid out on a project that would support Chinese propaganda in any way – neither consciously nor under any conditions, » she defended.

At a meeting with a fictitious Chinaseeeing agency, according to Karnižová, it was not mentioned during the communication or personal meeting that the stay would be part of Chinese propaganda.

And this is what, according to experts, is the greatest risk of invitations to free stays for China.

Terms such as Chinese propaganda, nor the China Communist Party, may not mention the influencers at any point, but they lend their name and reputation for money to the authoritarian regime, which then uses them to promote at home and in the world, and legitimize the regime that rules there. Or, as in the case of Tektokera Michálka, the creators do not even know where the shots of the stay will end.