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The 50 Cent Party (Also known as 50 Cent Army) ( wǔmáo dǎng) are Internet commentators ( wǎngluò pínglùn yuán) hired by the government of the People's Republic of China (both local and central) or the Communist Party to create favorable articles, internet sites, bogus information and post comments on forums, social media networks and all kinds of news, exchange and journals online platforms favorable towards party policies in an attempt to shape and sway public opinion on various Internet message boards.〔〔 The name derives from the allegation that commentators are said to be paid fifty cents of Renminbi for every post that either steers a discussion away from anti-party or sensitive content on websites, bulletin board systems, and chatrooms,〔 or that advances the Communist party line.〔〔Further they are deployed to make disparaging comments, spread falsehoods and misinformation about political opponents, critics of the Chinese communist party regime, and about any targeted national or international topic or entity, such as politicians, countries, organizations, etc.〔http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1142634-leaked-emails-show-chinese-regime-employs-500000-internet-trolls/〕 ==History== In October 2004, the Publicity Department of Changsha started hiring Internet commentators, in one of the earliest known uses of professional Internet commentators.〔〔 In March 2005, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China enacted a systematic censorship of Chinese college bulletin board systems. The popular "Little Lily" BBS, run by Nanjing University, was forced to close. As a new system was prepared to be launched, school officials hired students as part-time web commentators, paid from the university's work-study funds, to search the forum for undesirable information and actively counter it with Party-friendly viewpoints. In the following months, party leaders from Jiangsu province began hiring their own teams.〔 By mid-2007, web commentator teams recruited by schools, and party organizations were common across China. Shanghai Normal University employed undergraduates to monitor for signs of dissent and post on university forums.〔 These commentators not only operate within political discussions, but also in general discussions.〔〔 Afterwards, some schools and local governments also started to build similar teams.〔〔〔 On 23 January 2007, Chinese leader Hu Jintao demanded a "reinforcement of ideological and public opinion front construction and positive publicity" at the 38th collective learning of Politburo.〔 Large Chinese websites and local governments have been requested to publish the sayings of Hu, and select "comrades with good political quality" to form "teams of Internet commentators" by the CPC Central Committee () and General Office of the State Council ().〔〔 Negative reporting of local authorities has increased on the internet since then.〔 In one instance described on the China Digital Times, the Jiaozuo (Henan) City Public Security Bureau established a mechanism to analyse public opinion after criticism of the police handling of a traffic incident appeared on the internet. The Bureau responded with 120 staff calling for the truth to be revealed in line with the public opinion, which gradually shifted and eventually supported the police position, denouncing the original poster.〔〔 In the aftermath of the 2008 Guizhou riot, internet forums were filled with posts critical of the local authorities; the ''China News Weekly'' later reported that "the major task of the propaganda group was to organize commentators to past () posts on websites to guide online public opinions."〔 In 2010, the Shanghai Communist Youth League's official website published a summary, saying that there were more than 200 topics by Shanghai Municipal Authorities' Internet commentators posted at People's Daily site, Xinhua site, Eastday (东方网), Sina and Tianya after many incidents in 2009, including Lotus Riverside incident, Green Dam software forced installation, Putuo Urban Administrative incident, H1N1's control, Shanghai entrapment incident (钓鱼执法), Pan Rong (潘蓉)'s self-immolation, etc. It was praised by Shanghai Internet Publicity Office.〔 In December 2014, a Chinese blogger hacked into and published email archives for the Internet Propaganda Department of Zhanggong District in Ganzhou, including over 2,700 emails of 50 Cent Party internet commentators.〔(Thousands of Local Internet Propaganda Emails Leaked ), China Digital Times, 3 December 2014.〕〔(Zhanggong Leaks: History is the Best Judge ), China Digital Times, 10 December 2014.〕 For instance, on 16 January 2014, Shi Wenqing, secretary of the Ganzhou branch of the CCP, held a televised "internet exchange" in which he answered questions from a local news website forum; 50 Cent Party commentators were instructed to post seven discussion points, such as (translated) "I really admire Party Secretary Shi, what a capable and effective Party Secretary! I hope he can be the father of Ganzhou for years to come."〔(Hacked emails reveal China’s elaborate and absurd internet propaganda machine ), Quartz, 18 December 2014.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「50 Cent Party」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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