Honzik's trip to China - that's what the jokes on social media sounded like after Czech TikToker Honzi Michálek confessed to making a series of videos for Chinese TV. But the Czech influencer is not alone.
Countries with a reputation problem have long tried to influence public opinion in their favour. Historical propaganda that we know from the World Wars, the Cold War, and beyond has been adapted to meet public demands for more ethical approaches and to respond to current trends and changes in media consumption.
Inviting journalists on trips to destinations, sending press releases and offering interviews may not work in countries such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, North Korea or China that do not have the best relationships with journalists. For these reasons, new players are entering the space - influencers.
Influencers are not journalists
States that engage in reputation management are well aware that news broadcast through traditional media can be editorialized, cut, added to, and so on, reducing the broadcaster's control over the final message of the information.
Thus, some countries are trying to find ways to get their messages to their target audiences without an intermediary. They are looking for alternative channels of communication that they can control better, but which also offer the same or better opportunities to target and reach the right groups. Influencers are one option, and many states have begun to apply activities such as trips, campaigns, collaborations and more to their communications strategies.
The Czech social media space has recently been filled with another influencer controversy. Young TikToker @honzimichalek let it be known in a now viral podcast that he was invited to China for a trade fair, which eventually included filming videos for a Chinese TV channel.
His case, however, helped expose a wider Chinese communications operation aimed at working with Czech influencers.
Although Michálek claims he did not know that this form of collaboration would connect him to Chinese propaganda and swears he asked if the project had any political overtones, the damage had already been done. Both on his reputation and on social media users who were unwittingly targeted by Chinese propaganda through him. This case has opened an important debate in the Czech social media space and among influencers. However, Michálek is far from the first and this case is not unique in the world.
Asad's influencers
In 2022, the Washington Post published an article "Influencers are whitewashing Syria's regime, with help from sponsors", in which it said that inviting journalists to rehabilitate the state's reputation was a "PR disaster" because journalists wrote critically about their experiences. This showed the Assad regime the need to move away from "political" to more lifestyle topics about the country.
Source: freepik.com
Influencer content then flooded social media, ranging from spontaneous influencers enjoying the appealing and visually interesting potential of visiting Syria to influencers invited by the Syrian government. However, none of these influencers were completely exempt from the influence of regime propaganda, as every tourist entering the country had to be accompanied by a guide assigned by the government.
As a result, we saw social media flooded with beautiful views of Syria's ancient monuments, food, culture and people with superficial views of the devastation caused by the war. We could hear some human stories and hints of empathy, but the influencers never let us into the deeper political and social realities of the country. They never told us who bombed Homs or Aleppo, but they did tell us who destroyed Palmyra - the common enemy of ISIS. All said and shown was just another prefabricated message from the Assad regime.
One of the most shocking and disconnected from reality videos was the one by influencer @gus1thego with the tabloid headline "I was tortured in Syria". The video downplays the serious subject of torture by showing local massage practices and disregards the documented history of torture and human rights violations by the Syrian regime.
Given the complex and volatile situation in Syria, the future of meaningful communication from that country remains uncertain. For now, however, it seems safe to declare the Assad regime's influencer-driven propaganda efforts a closed chapter.
The more shocking, the more "liked"
Recently, global headlines have been flooded with information about North Korean influencers supporting propaganda there. However, in addition to state-hired influencers who read Harry Potter on camera and go to the cinema, foreign influencers are also visiting North Korea. Whether they have been invited or not, it's hard to know the truth about each vlog, Instagram post or video, but just the fact that they move more or less freely in their videos with a camera and a government guide at their backs makes for an interesting look at North Korea's new approach to foreign media.
A video describing the experience of skiing in North Korea has already had half a million views on YouTube, another with over 700,000 views shows a five-star North Korean resort.
Social media content, such as videos from an influencer called @homeless.backpacker with over 200,000 followers, are just a few of the many that populate social media and predict an important trend - people are interested in peeking into closed regimes, dark tourism is growing in popularity, and a sense of exclusivity or untouched, unspoiled landscapes are a source of huge popularity on social media. An Instagram video by the aforementioned @homeless.backpacker showing a North Korean subway ride has been seen by 52.7 million people, and another by influencer @nikakochetkova has 17.9 million views.
Influencers like to show exclusive, off-the-beaten-path destinations. It offers them unique opportunities to provoke reactions and increase reach. In recent years, many influencers have flooded Saudi Arabia showing breathtaking views of Alullah, Riyadh, Jeddah and the futuristic NEOM project.
Besides megastars like Ronaldo or Messi, Czech influencers @hynecheck or @dominika.po visited Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the Saudi Tourist Board. Their content shows beautiful nature, cities, culture and great food following the official message of the campaign "Welcome to a journey you never imagined".
Reputation at stake
These activities often threaten the reputation of influencers as social media audiences criticize them for engaging in propaganda, whitewashing and other unethical practices. Significant misconduct can cause companies to stop working with influencers, significantly affecting their livelihoods.
International reputation is a long-standing problem for all of the countries mentioned, limiting their economic, political and social goals. For some time now, these countries have been on a journey to improve their public image and perception, using a range of channels and tools to reach their desired audiences.
Social media content remains largely unregulated. Influencers do not have the ambition of investigative journalists and do not want to be labelled as politically active because their commercial cooperation depends on being perceived as apolitical and unproblematic. This offers a great mix for countries where traditional media has been more a source of reputational damage, PR crises and unwanted coverage.
While the evolution of the industry is unclear, for now we can be sure that influencers with their huge reach will be telling us about every future must-visit destination with little to no regard for the complex geopolitical situation of the place, and the public must prepare for these messages accordingly.
Copyright: European Journalism Observatory (EJO)
The Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) is a member of the European Journalism Observatory (EJO). The views expressed on this site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies and positions of the EJO and ICS.
