Huawei ran a new influence campaign using Facebook ads with disguised political messages, Twitter broadcasts by a leading American law firm, and the Chinese state television’s American division. The effort is designed to make the Chinese tech giant look like the solution to all the world’s problems just as the West’s economies have come to a screeching halt.
Huawei ran ads in March on Facebook that predicted a global cyber crisis that could become just as severe or “maybe even worse” than the financial crisis of 2008. The ad encouraged people to “#TrustInTech #HuaweiNow.” Facebook removed the ad because it did not include a disclaimer that it was related to U.S. politics and because Huawei paid for the ad with a foreign currency.
“After this ad started running, we determined that it was related to U.S. politics and issues of national importance,” reads a statement posted in the Facebook Ad Library. “We require these types of ads to be paid for in U.S. dollars. This ad was paid for in foreign currency, so we took it down.”
Before the ad stopped running on March 9, it received 60,000 to 70,000 impressions from Facebook users primarily in Western Europe, Canada and the United States. When the ad ran, western nations were debating whether and how to allow Huawei to contribute to 5G network technology development in their countries.
The U.S. government has not been open to working with Huawei. The Department of Justice indicted the tech giant on racketeering charges in February and President Trump’s administration has announced a coming ban on Huawei doing business in the U.S.
None of that stopped Huawei from pushing ahead with its American influence efforts. The company recorded videos with Michael Carvin, partner at the law firm Jones Day, featuring the Capitol dome over his shoulder as he argues that Huawei poses no risk to America. Huawei has shared videos of Mr. Carvin throughout March, and it also paid for ads on Twitter to say its actions are motivated by “human responsibility” and to #ConnectNotDivide.
Huawei also looked to capitalize on positive publicity associated with sending medical supplies to New York when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. The Chinese internet and technology company reportedly delivered 10,000 masks, 20,000 isolation gowns, 50,000 goggles and 10,000 gloves.
Chinese state television sought to capitalize on the aid and promoted it as an example of Huawei’s benevolence. CGTN America, a registered foreign agent acting on behalf of China, made a 60-second video documenting New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo thanking Huawei online. Huawei posted its annual financial report Tuesday arguing that it is a victim of an “unprecedented smear campaign by the U.S. government.”
Company officials did not respond to requests for comment.
“Nonstop pressure from the U.S. government, in a deliberate attempt to spread disinformation, has put our company under the spotlight,” the Huawei financial report said. “In response, we have made a concerted effort to enhance transparency and communicate more proactively with the world. We remain committed to the facts and open information sharing.”
While millions of Americans have lost their jobs and thousands get sick and die, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei told the South China Morning Post that the coronavirus has not affected his workforce and 90% of the company’s production and development efforts were working last week. Mr. Zhengfei said the company planned to increase its research and development budget to more than $20 billion in the coming year, up from about $15 billion.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers said Huawei’s expansion of its R&D budget is evidence of the company’s intent to “take advantage of” the rest of the world hunkering down. Mr. Rogers, who now leads the advocacy group 5G Action Now, pointed to the Chinese government subsidizing Huawei an estimated $75 billion and said the company also categorizes activity not always considered R&D to take advantage of the government aid.
“If you look at how the Chinese influence their region — where they find ethnic Chinese and Chinese speakers living around the world, they target them — now they’ve got the notion of ’Hey, you know what? We don’t have to have big diplomatic efforts,’” Mr. Rogers said. “All you have to do is communicate with people to where they’re on their laptops and we can win this fight and they’ve got plenty of money to do it.”
Huawei’s combative relationship with the U.S. looks unlikely to thaw any time soon, and Mr. Rogers said the larger fight between the U.S. and China has the smell of a new Cold War.
“This is a new dynamic and so I don’t think the old Cold War standard counts but when you look at what’s coming next, data is the next battleground for national security,” Mr. Rogers said. “Why? Because you don’t have to launch a missile, you can fight this thing remotely. You can do things by proxy in ways you never could do before. So I’m not sure I’d call it a Cold War but it certainly is chilly in the tech space and data dominance.”
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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