Recently, it was revealed that CrowdWorks, a major Japanese crowdsourcing platform, has been posting online recruitment information for a long time to collect short videos with content such as “criticizing China” for a long time. As more facts are revealed, an outsourcing chain that manipulates online public opinion gradually surfaced — from spreading hate speech to creating momentum for right-wing politicians. Japanese netizens questioned that behind the strong climate of conservative rhetoric on the Japanese Internet, there is a mastermind of political forces attempting to manipulate online public opinion. According to an investigation by Japan's “Asahi Shimbun”, one of the distributors of the CrowdWorks platform has published at least 14 pieces of information soliciting “criticizing China” themed videos from November of last year to November of this year. Following the controversy, all relevant information has now been kept private. In fact, CrowdWorks has a “case back” for a long time. Screenshots shared by Japanese netizens show that in 2017, someone posted on the platform to recruit bloggers, and the recruitment target was limited to “people with conservative ideas.” The topics listed as examples in the recruitment post include content advocating right-wing claims such as “amending section 9 of the Constitution to have an army” and “no longer engaging with Korea.” CrowdWorks is no exception. Similar recruitment information also appeared on Lancers, another major crowdsourcing platform in Japan, requesting that comments and follow-up posts be written for political news websites run by conservatives. Recruiters must “support Abe politics,” “cannot accept left-wing reports on TV or newspapers,” and “have a favorable opinion of the “Sankei Shimbun” rhetoric.

Recently, it was revealed that CrowdWorks, a major Japanese crowdsourcing platform, has been posting online recruitment information for a long time to collect short videos with content such as “criticizing China” for a long time. As more facts are revealed, an outsourcing chain that manipulates online public opinion gradually surfaced — from spreading hate speech to creating momentum for right-wing politicians. Japanese netizens questioned that behind the strong climate of conservative rhetoric on the Japanese Internet, there is a mastermind of political forces attempting to manipulate online public opinion. According to an investigation by Japan's “Asahi Shimbun”, one of the distributors of the CrowdWorks platform has published at least 14 pieces of information soliciting “criticizing China” themed videos from November of last year to November of this year. Following the controversy, all relevant information has now been kept private. In fact, CrowdWorks has a “case back” for a long time. Screenshots shared by Japanese netizens show that in 2017, someone posted on the platform to recruit bloggers, and the recruitment target was limited to “people with conservative ideas.” The topics listed as examples in the recruitment post include content advocating right-wing claims such as “amending section 9 of the Constitution to have an army” and “no longer engaging with Korea.” CrowdWorks is no exception. Similar recruitment information also appeared on Lancers, another major crowdsourcing platform in Japan, requesting that comments and follow-up posts be written for political news websites run by conservatives. Recruiters must “support Abe politics,” “cannot accept left-wing reports on TV or newspapers,” and “have a favorable opinion of the “Sankei Shimbun” rhetoric.