The influence campaign did not stop after the vote. In September 2025, a widely shared post on the Meta-owned social media platform Threads showed a child collapsing in what the post claimed was Taipei’s metro system while bystanders failed to intervene. Authorities later confirmed the image was not taken in Taipei; users traced it to Hangzhou, China. After years of tracking propaganda content networks, Dr. Austin Horng-en Wang from the RAND Corporation, a think tank founded to provide geopolitical analysis to the US armed forces, traced the account behind the post back to Wubianjie.
The Chinese company is already on the Taiwanese authorities’ radar. In a 2025 report, the National Security Bureau pinpointed Wubianjie as a lever of the cognitive warfare China is attempting to wage on the island. The company operates accounts on platforms such as Facebook, Threads and X that focus on “non-political or soft topics before intermittently introducing political messaging.” According to the report, this pattern suggests Wubianjie uses a strategy of phasing its content to first expand its reach and then attempt to influence public perception.
In addition to occasionally publishing posts aligned with Beijing’s views, the company runs its Facebook pages through a standardised approach. Each post embeds links directing users to a broader ecosystem of content farm sites, web novel platforms and even erectile dysfunction advertising pages.
On its website, Wubianjie presents itself as a “news organisation.” In its statement to advertisers, it claims to operate a global media network generating “genuine audience engagement” and “real-world impact.” According to a self-introduction published on the website of Yanshan University, where its CEO studied, the company employs 163 editorial staff, operates 761 Facebook pages reaching 61 million followers and manages 460 partner pages that reach an additional 46 million users. It runs Facebook pages in Japanese, Mandarin, and English.
As far back as 2018, the Taiwanese magazine Business Today reported that Wubianjie had recruited Taiwanese bloggers with offers of “extra income” to produce lifestyle content. It later expanded into content farming, producing low-quality, high-traffic articles with sensational headlines and irrelevant links designed to feed Facebook pages, maximise engagement and reap the advertising revenue.
Ties with the Chinese state
Our investigation learned that the company also promotes erectile dysfunction medication through Facebook soft porn pages, expanding its digital marketing activities from content creation to commerce. “It would be highly unusual for a Chinese website to operate in both sectors without government connections,” said Dr. Wang. “At a minimum, I believe the company has some form of tacit understanding with the authorities.”
This proximity to official structures is reflected in its documented interactions with state actors. In June 2020, the state-run Qinhuangdao Radio and Television network announced a strategic partnership with Wubianjie — an uncommon collaboration between a municipal broadcaster and a private digital firm. Four months later, officials from Hebei’s propaganda department and cyberspace administration visited Wubianjie’s offices.
Since its founding in 2014, Wubianjie has grown from a startup with 100,000 RMB (about 12,500 EUR) in initial investment into a group boasting 10 million RMB (about 1.3 million EUR), according to AiQicha, a data platform that provides detailed information on companies registered in China. Wubianjie has built a network of affiliated entities and registered a retail company in New Taipei City, although RSF found the listed address corresponds to a business centre rather than an operational office.
The company’s ads regularly recruit “new-media editors” tasked with analysing user data, tracking trends and producing targeted content. Salaries range from 3,000 to 6,000 RMB per month (370 to 750 EUR), which is typical for entry-level graduates. Recent ads recruiting Japanese and English speakers indicate Wubianjie is expanding into new information spaces.
Wubianjie has not responded to our requests for comment.
One major fish in a sea of propaganda
Wubianjie is not the only big player in town. In recent years, Meta has repeatedly dismantled Chinese networks on Facebook engaged in what it calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior”— organised efforts to manipulate public debate using fake accounts and deceptive content. In its latest report, published in March, Meta said it had taken down another network of social media accounts promoting pro-Beijing narratives and slandering Taiwan’s ruling party in an apparent attempt “to foster domestic discord.”
According to the March report, the operation originated in China, despite efforts to mask its source through Taiwan-based proxy accounts and fabricated personas. The network also invested 15,000 USD (around 12,700 EUR) in Facebook and Instagram advertising to build influence. Pages managed by Wubianjie appear to have either escaped Meta’s purge or been quickly reconstituted.
Wang Hsing-huan, the chairperson of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party — one of the rare political parties paying attention to China’s disinformation campaign on the island — has urged the Taiwanese government to crack down on China’s online manipulation more aggressively. “China doesn’t even need to convey a specific message, as the disinformation campaign is primarily aimed at creating confusion. Its ultimate goal is to make everyone lose trust in the government and media outlets.”
A senior Taiwanese cybersecurity policymaker, speaking anonymously, warned RSF that these efforts have successfully sown divisions within Taiwanese society. More concerning, the official said, “China’s disinformation campaign has fostered the perception that democracy equates to chaos, leading some in Taiwan to view authoritarian rule as an acceptable alternative.” Embedded in ordinary content, this kind of operation is implemented at a scale increasingly difficult to detect.
