Fact vs fiction

▶ The Feroza Aziz incident reveals double standards of Western media

When Western media make blindly criticizing China an attractive trend, people like Feroza Aziz will follow suit either to build a reputation as human rights defenders or to attract public attention

Major Western media outlets have extensively covered Feroza Aziz, a 17-year-old girl from the US, who claimed her TikTok account was shut down for talking about so-called “genocide” against Uyghur Muslims in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

In the wake of Western media efforts hyping so-called leaked documents on China’s Xinjiang, Aziz has given them a chance to accuse China of “censorship” on a Chinese-owned social media app and to attack China’s Xinjiang policies.

However, experts said Aziz’s information about Xinjiang is from biased Western media reports. Cases like Aziz show Western mainstream media lack professionalism when it comes to reporting on China, and they also give platforms to people misinformed by antiChina propaganda.

Trying to get attention

While making a TikTok video teaching people how to get long eyelashes on November 23, Aziz, a high-school junior from New Jersey, told her audience to search what is happening in China and mentioned so-called “concentration camps” and “abuse” of Muslims in Xinjiang.

She told MTV News that she used a fake makeup tutorial video for “the first few second to reel viewers in to then speak about the Uyghur.”

Aziz has 5,800 followers on TikTok. Many of Aziz’s

TikTok videos uploaded online are her making faces, which usually got less “likes.” The ones where she talks about Xinjiang have 577,700 likes.

She even started a Twitter to keep up with the spread of her TikTok video. She now has 10,500 followers on Twitter account and 14,000 followers on Instagram.

Although admitting she did not seek the spotlight, Aziz was interviewed by many media in recent days. Her remarks on accusing China for “mistreating” Muslims sparked some criticisms among netizens.

Many said that she should not spread rumors without even conducting surveys or visiting China’s Xinjiang. And some said she wants to draw attention by talking about something she does not clearly understand.

There is no public information showing Aziz has been to China.

Calling herself “Just a Muslim trying to spread awareness” on her Twitter account, how could Aziz spread true awareness, considering her impression on Xinjiang came from rumors and fake news made by some US media, said some netizens.

If she wants to speak about serious