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10111001 • today at 4:30 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

For anyone wondering what "wumao" is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party:

> The 50 Cent Party, also known as the 50 Cent Army or wumao (/ˈwuːmaʊ/; from Chinese: 五毛; lit. 'five dimes'), are Chinese government employees posting online comments to divert public attention or promote positive sentiment.

> ...

> The name "50 Cent Party" is derived from claims that government hired commentators are reportedly paid RMB¥0.50 (5 jiao) for every post in order to shape public opinion in ways favorable towards Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policies.[1][5][6]

So basically paid shills.

Replies

devy • today at 5:04 PM

Your didn't finish the explainer:

  A study published in 2017 points out that almost everything known about the 50 Cent Party in the past had been wrong. Most combative posts and commentators attributed to the 50 Cent Party were instead linked to private nationalistic individuals.
So the term became a misnomer.
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