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Comment by LeoPanthera | Hacker News Reader

The Epoch Times is a far-right newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. It promotes far-right politicians in Europe, and has backed President Donald Trump in the U.S. A 2019 report by NBC News showed it to be the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign. The Epoch Media Group's news sites and YouTube channels have spread conspiracy theories such as QAnon and anti-vaccine misinformation. In 2020, the New York Times called it a "global-scale misinformation machine".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times

I'm not claiming this means the story here is false, but frankly I'm surprised posts from this source are even allowed on HN.

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> but frankly I'm surprised posts from this source are even allowed on HN.

Surely a venue such as this, with its careful moderation and strong commitment to civil discourse, would (should) be very tolerant of such content. The only risk to posting such material is the poster should expect a lot of well-researched and thoughtful opposition.

Personally I believe (but rarely practice, because I’m lazy) that reading content from sources you disagree with is useful. Occasionally you’ll spot that you agree with your “enemy”. That’s the gateway to reconciliation, tolerance. We all gotta live here.

Also, I hadn’t encountered The Epoch before. Thanks for the heads up.

> In 2020, the New York Times called it a "global-scale misinformation machine".

Some call the New York Times that

I guess it's just which one has more people calling it...

Add a +1 from me that The Epoch Times is basically a hate group (known anti-homosexual agenda among other things), and the propaganda arm of a cult that literally believes aliens from outer space have infiltrated society to instill progressive values.

Yes, the Chinese communists have tried to eradicate them, but that doesn't mean that they are such a great group because of it.

If you've seen the Shen Yun ads across the US, that's also from them, and if you've ever actually gone then you'd get smacked in the face with heavy propaganda (just check the yelp reviews).

Their evil scheme currently seems to involve supporting better privacy and pointing out some fairly glaring flaws in the US Afghanistan strategy that really should have some repercussions. Perhaps you can find some common ground with them in that.

Bias or not (I briefly discussed that topic at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28168250), NYT and other more reputable publications are burdened by the reality, while ET/NTD/whatever else they operate simply aren’t. I prefer to get facts first (even if selected with bias) then work from there. But if you’re okay with op-eds dressed up as news reporting peppered with made-up events as needed as long as they validate your world view, go for it.

I'm curious now as to what benefit does the Falun Gong see in promoting the far right in Europe? I've never known them to be overly critical or discuss China much at all, some even seem to admire their tactics (Russia is mostly the focus of praise though). Perhaps they might be racist to local Chinese, is it some type of doomsday, chaos thing?

We're not here to discuss this particular news outlet. If you have problems with their specific reporting of this story then post it, otherwise this is off topic.

Haha, you remind me of its Chinese name 大纪元. Then I think you are right. I had thought its mere reason of existence was to promote anti-CCP information. To my surprise, it also reports international news now. If you know Chinese and have lived in China for a few days, you will know how rediculous some of its news are.

> I'm not claiming this means the story here is false, but frankly I'm surprised posts from this source are even allowed on HN.

And? Is what they have posted about this story false then? So their sources are wrong and are spreading conspiracy theories about this story then?

Rather than bringing up the past behaviours of newspapers and creating associations can you just comment on whether if the article is true or not.

If this particular story that is posted is proven to be false THEN you would have a point. In this case it is true and it is widely reported and also has credible sources for this article. You are welcome to prove otherwise.

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