China: RSF condemns cyber-harassment campaign fuelled by state-backed smear campaign against two French journalists
Two French journalists have been targeted by a massive, ongoing cyber harassment campaign amplified by Chinese state propaganda outlets for their participation in a report on the investigative programme Cash Investigation, aired on the public television channel France 2. The episode revealed that Decathlon, a French outdoor goods and sportswear company, heavily subcontracts to a Chinese company accused by the US Congress and the United Nations of using Uyghur forced labour. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns these violent online attacks — which include death threats — and calls for France’s public prosecutor to launch a preliminary investigation, prosecute the perpetrators and effectively regulate online platforms.
Since 1 March, thousands of posts containing violent insults and death threats have flooded the social media accounts of the two French journalists and Cash Investigation on Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter), and the comment sections of videos attacking the reporters and the outlet.
The harassment followed an episode of Cash Investigation, a renowned journalism show produced by Premières Lignes, that aired on 6 February. The report, “Auchan, Decathlon... The Secrets of a Golden Family,” investigated one of Decathlon’s Chinese suppliers. In the episode, the journalists visited two textile factories in China’s Shandong province owned by the subcontractor.
On 16 March, RSF observed that Chinese state-controlled entities, including the Xinhua news agency, began relaying the online campaign’s rhetoric, discrediting the journalists and the programme as “poorly made propaganda against China.” By repeating key narratives from the online attacks, these state outlets are reinforcing, legitimising and expanding the harassment campaign on an international scale, a practice known as information laundering.
"The harassment these two French reporters are facing is unacceptable. They’re receiving death threats that make them fear for their physical safety all because they did their job as journalists. Given the severity of the situation and the Chinese state’s role in amplifying the campaign, RSF demands France’s public prosecutor open a preliminary investigation as a first step towards prosecuting the perpetrators and calls for platform regulations that will finally allow effective measures against journalist intimidation campaigns.
Escalating threats
The initial wave of attacks came from accounts on Chinese social media platforms and Chinese-language accounts on X. The messages were openly threatening from the start. On 1 March, a post on Weibo — China’s microblogging platform — garnered over 15,000 likes and 700 comments. The author shared the journalists’ names and photos alongside a violent threat: Spreading rumours, slandering, making things up… [...] Let's hope I don't run into them in China, I will definitely slap them!”
The online hate campaign soon escalated. Hostile private messages multiplied, and Cash Investigation and the two journalists were singled out by an X account with over 7 million followers. Attacks also appeared in Chinese blog posts and videos criticising the documentary. On X, they received death threats and insults, mainly in Chinese and English, such as: “Go to hell,” “Your mother is dead” and “Your [loved ones] will die a horrible death.”
From dormant accounts to pro-China influencers
Not all accounts involved in the attacks were initially dedicated to pro-China content. Some had previously posted unrelated material — such as pornography and cartoon slips — before abruptly shifting to targeting the French journalists. Many were dormant accounts, inactive for months before suddenly joining the smear campaign. They all echoed the same insults and sought to undermine the journalists' credibility.
While the harassment campaign originally stemmed from Chinese accounts, it later gained traction among Western influencers linked to China. Some verified X users joined in, with their posts amassing over 300,000 views. One such figure, Andy Boreham — a New Zealander based in Shanghai — identifies himself as a video journalist for Shanghai Daily on X. His account was labelled as state-affiliated media by X until the platform withdrew the label in April 2023. He also runs a YouTube channel aiming to “counter the Western anti-China narrative.” In a 2022 interview with the New Zealand outlet Newsroom, he declared: “I’m extremely proud to be a voice for China.”
State media amplification
All of these narratives served as material for Chinese state news agencies, whose publications have amplified the smear campaign against Cash Investigation and the two journalists. After news reports were published in French and English by the Xinhua agency — which is indexed on Google News, according to RSF information — state-run newspapers People’s Daily and China Daily followed suit. Xinhua’s Chinese-language publication was even shared by the Chinese embassy in France on the Chinese social media platform WeChat. What began as a smear campaign on obscure accounts is now being picked up by media outlets that rely on Xinhua, which operates more than 180 foreign bureaus worldwide.
China: a predator of press freedom
The cyber harassment of Cash Investigation is the umpteenth example of the challenges facing anyone who wants to practice journalism in China. The country ranks 172nd out of 180 in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index as the current regime maintains strict control over information through censorship, surveillance and the expulsion of foreign journalists. In parallel, Beijing aggressively promotes its own narratives, blocking independent investigations at home while conducting vast propaganda and disinformation campaigns abroad through state and social media.
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