GOOG’S CHINA BOOST

Searches ‘favor’ Beijing

Google and YouTube often give Chinese state propaganda outlets high rankings in searches on hot-button political issues — including denials of the abuse of Muslims in Xinjiang and conspiracy theories that the coronavirus originated in a US military lab, according to a new study.

Chinese state sources also rank highly on Microsoft Bing searches about controversial issues, according to the report published Friday by the Brookings Institution and the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

“China has exploited search engine results on Xinjiang and COVID-19, two subjects that are geopolitically salient to Beijing,” the researchers said.

News searches on Google and Bing for “Xinjiang” — the western region where China has locked up an estimated more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims in what critics say amounts to a genocide — have included a Chinese statebacked source within the top 10 results in 88% of searches, according to the study.

On YouTube, a whopping 98% of Xinjiang searches showed a Chinese government-backed video in the top 10 results, the study said. The researchers conducted the study by searching the terms over a 120-day period.

“Google actively works to combat coordinated influence and censorship operations while also protecting access to information and free expression online,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to The Post.

“Third-party research shows that Google Search consistently returns highquality results, especially compared to other search engines.”

Going viral

In addition to denying abusing Muslims in Xinjiang, Chinese state media outlets have also aggressively pushed unfounded theories that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a US military lab. Many of these center around a base in Maryland called Fort Detrick that previously hosted the US biological weapons program.

In searches for “Fort Detrick” on YouTube, an average of five Chinese statesponsored videos showed up within the top 10 results, the researchers said.

Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment, but told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the study, that it is reviewing the study and is always seeking to improve.

While Google Search and YouTube are blocked in China, Microsoft operates a Chinese version of Bing that censors results at the government’s request. It also has thousands of corporate employees there.