France Identifies 13 CGTN-Linked News Websites Launched in 2025 Promoting Positive China Coverage
Viginum linked the sites to CGTN and documented coordinated promotion of Chinese positions across languages. The network targeted young audiences on multiple platforms.
france24.comViginum, the French government agency that monitors foreign digital interference, announced on Thursday, June 4, that it had identified thirteen fake news websites launched in 2025 and directly connected to China Global Television Network, the state media outlet under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.
The agency said the sites formed a coordinated network that operated in multiple languages and promoted China in a one-sided manner. " Viginum established that the French-language site "Actu Méridien" was managed internally by Chinese state television.
Articles on that site, published mainly between March 2015 and February 2026, promoted Chinese aerospace and artificial intelligence programs, presented China as the leader of the "Global South," highlighted environmental initiatives, and described benefits for France from closer alignment with Chinese interests.
One article published in several languages criticized a France 2 television report on the treatment of Uyghurs in China. The American cybersecurity company Graphika first exposed parts of the network in the summer of 2025.
Graphika identified 11 websites and 16 English-language social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads and X that uncritically relayed CGTN articles and specifically targeted young people. Additional sites in the network published content in Spanish under the name "Amigo News" and in Vietnamese. All sites were linked to CGTN, according to Viginum.
