The most important French disinformation site, Epochtimes.fr, does not have a very well-known name. Yet it is a huge platform, very influential, part of a gigantic media group, and belonging to the mysterious Falun Gong movement.
Epochtimes.fr: the name may not mean anything to you, but it is nevertheless one of the most powerful and influential sites in France. This is a report from the site specializing in disinformation Newsguard, published at the end of December 2022, which tells us. Epochtimes.fr would have generated more than 5.6 million engagements in 2022, according to Newsguard, mainly thanks to misleading articles on the covid-19. It ranks ahead of other better known sites, such as FranceSoir or the Russian channel RT, proof of its popularity and its influence in conspiratorial spheres.
Few people know that Epochtimes.fr is only the French version of The Epoch Times. This American title created in 2000 has since spread to several dozen countries and has variants in 25 languages. Epochtimes.fr is thus part of a huge galaxy of media, linked to the mysterious and discreet Falun Gong sect, which has used the Covid pandemic to extend its influence.
Falun Gong, a strange movement of Chinese origin
Summarizing the Falun Gong movement is a daunting task. Falun Gong is basically a kind of gymnastics, a variant of traditional Chinese Qi Gong, created in 1992 in a city in northern China by Li Hongzi. It’s hard to see at first glance how gym goers can come to be at the top of an empire of misinformation, and even seem dangerous. In fact, the beginnings of Falun Gong are innocuous: the followers of the sports discipline declare to feel in much better health thanks to the exercises, and Falun Gong counts, 2 years after its creation, several million faithful.
But, Li Hongzi then adds stranger elements to the practice of gymnastics: he explains that he is endowed with magical powers, which he can succeed in transmitting to his students if they have reached a sufficiently high degree of awakening. and spirituality. Still according to him, the end of humanity would be near, and extraterrestrials would have invaded the Earth, “ bringing computers and planes to corrupt humans through modern science.
The Chinese government of the time did not take kindly to the growing popularity of the movement, and banned the practice of Falun Gong in 1999. After demonstrations by followers against its ban, the government launched a crackdown. Kidnappings, murders, torture sessions, re-education through labor and organ trafficking are blamed on the Chinese authorities and have been denounced by several UN declarations and by newspaper articles.
The Epoch Times is said to be Falun Gong’s “official news outlet”
Shortly after the crackdown began, The Epoch Times was created in 2000, by Chinese Americans who can no longer remain silent in the face of repeated human rights abuses and the Chinese regime’s stranglehold on information “, particularly ” the persecution of Falun Gong “, indicates epochetimes.fr, on a page “About us” of its site.
Officially, no link exists between the movement and the newspaper. However, the latter has been described as ” the official press organ of Falun Gong by an expert on the subject, David Ownby. The Epoch Times is used as the media arm of the movement. His articles are largely devoted to atrocities committed by the Chinese government, especially against Falun Gong followers.
The French version, epochtimes.fr, was created in 2004, and publishes the same kind of content while remaining generally in the shadows, unknown to the general public. But in recent years, the newspaper’s editorial line has changed dramatically. Since 2016, in the United States, The Epoch Times has transformed itself into an impressive pro-Trump machine, as reported in 2020 by the New York Times. By commending the actions of the President against China and the Communist Party in power, and by sharing the theses of the American extreme right in his articles, The Epoch Times very quickly becoming one of the most popular American media on social networks.
Far right and conspiracy theses
In France, epochtimes.fr follows the same movement, broadcasting conspiracy theses and far-right ideas from 2016. However, the site remains relatively anonymous, overtaken by sites like BreizhInfo or Fdesouche. All that changes in 2020, with the covid pandemic.
From then on, the newspaper regularly called the disease the ” CCP virus » [parti communiste chinois, ndlr]sharing fake news about the existence of the “ great reset “, a vast conspiracy theory, or even on the invention of a “ anti covid implant by the US Pentagon. In August 2021, a paper copy of the newspaper was distributed during an anti-sanitary pass demonstration. On June 20, 2022, epochtimes.fr publishes a misinformation article in which it is explained that “ vaccinating children against Covid-19 is criminal “.
The success of the newspaper can be seen on social networks: the Facebook page “Epoch Times Paris” has more than a million likes. Each publication about the vaccine gathers hundreds of comments.
The Epoch Times is only a small part of this media empire
The Epoch Times represents only a small part of the media empire built around Falun Gong. In addition to this press title, it is necessary to count NTDto New Tang Dynastya television channel with the same editorial line as Tea Epoch Times. In France, the latter is broadcast on YouTube and on some cable channels, and NTD broadcasts in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Germany. The Epoch Times is also present in Spanish-speaking countries, under the name of Tierra Pura.
There is also a whole network of information sites, responsible for reporting the latest information on the suppression of Falun Gong members in China and promoting the movement, such as Faluninfo, minghui, pureinsight, and clearharmony.
Finally, Shen Yun is certainly the best known branch of Falun Gong. The dance show, whose huge billboards have been popping up regularly in France for a few years, is an offshoot of the movement. The troupe boasts of representing Chinese culture that “ the CCP strives to destroy and the dancers all practice Falun Gong, as the Shen Yun website explains.
A geopolitical tool
This is the first time that epochtimes.fr has appeared in the Newsguard ranking of French disinformators. The importance that the latter has taken in the French conspiratorial sphere is therefore particularly notable. This is not just any disinformation site: the group The Epoch Times is at the crossroads of several geopolitical issues.
China does not fail to endorse articles denouncing the influence of these media. In May 2021, the French version of People’s Dailythe official press organ of the Chinese Communist Party, had resumed an investigation by Le Parisien on The Epoch Times and Falun Gong. Le Quotidien had added to the explanations of Le Parisien that “ movement [Falun Gong] carried out a large propaganda campaign against the Chinese government “, Without specifying that the latter had violently repressed the followers.