Foreign video bloggers denouncing what they say is negative coverage of China on highly controversial subjects such as Xinjiang are attracting large numbers of subscribers on platforms like YouTube.

In recent years, the "vloggers" have been increasingly presenting themselves as China-lovers, spreading Communist Party disinformation.

YouTube labels Chinese state media like broadcaster CGTN as government-funded. But there is little policing when it comes to individuals promoting similar narratives.

Some vloggers are suspected of co-operating with state-owned outlets to spread China's rhetoric to the world. But it's far from clear what really motivates them, or how effective this strategy is.

Co-ordinated videos have recently been appearing on foreign vloggers' channels to counter investigative reports from independent media on the treatment of China's Uyghur community in its north-west Xinjiang region.


There are well-documented allegations of systematic human rights abuses on a huge scale in the region.


The vloggers include British expatriates Barrie Jones, Jason Lightfoot and father-and-son team Lee and Oli Barrett, who use their platforms to comment on the West's alleged "lies" and China's government policies.


They have subsequently gone on to appear in videos for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN.