BEIJING — In China , Twitter is blocked but fake tweets by @realdonaldtrump look set to become the latest internet sensation.
Users are flocking to websites that let them generate images of fake tweets that look just like those sent from U. S. President Donald Trump\u2019s distinctive personal Twitter account — replete with his avatar and a real-time timestamp.
Jike, a Shanghai-based startup running one such website, said Thursday that in just four days, users have created more than a million fake realdonaldtrump tweets in Chinese and English, often mimicking Mr. Trump\u2019s tone and fondness for exclamation marks. They are being shared on Chinese social networking sites to crack jokes, tout online goods and send Lunar New Year greetings.
After suggesting he wants to renegotiate the One China policy, Donald Trump was labeled a „rookie“ by China’s nationalist tabloid.
The fake Trump tweets circulating on Chinese social media reflect how Mr. Trump\u2019s use of Twitter is even seeping into the popular consciousness of a country where Twitter has been blocked by censors for years.
Although Mr. Trump\u2019s comments on trade, Taiwan and the South China Sea have raised concerns in Beijing, there is a certain fascination about him among some young Chinese who see him as a symbol of American showmanship but overlook his anti-China rhetoric, at least for now.
\u201cFor young Chinese people, Trump has an extremely iconic image,\u201d said Lin Hang, a co-founder of Jike. \u201cHis Twitter content can easily spark conversations in China. His language style is very recognizable. So when netizens put their everyday life musings or roasts in his voice, it provokes a certain reaction, a certain resonance.\u201d
Jike, founded by Chinese who studied at the University of Michigan and worked at Google, rolled out the website on Sunday, Lin said. Employees at the startup, which mainly produces a personalized news app, started sharing it with their friends that night as a joke.
It spread quickly from China\u2019s highly educated, English-speaking internet circles to other social groups and smaller cities, Lin said.
Despite tight government controls over online discourse, particularly surrounding sensitive domestic news, China\u2019s 700 million internet users have a freewheeling web culture that churns out a running stream of commentary, memes and wisecracks about international news.
Along with Twitter, other foreign social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube are also inaccessible within China. But many Chinese use software to circumvent the ban and are aware of foreign services like Twitter even if they do not log on regularly.
China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U. S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!
Mr. Trump\u2019s tweeting habits have also been widely covered in the Chinese media. In a commentary this month, the official Xinhua News Agency warned against Mr. Trump\u2019s \u201cobsession with Twitter foreign policy\u201d after he criticized China in a series of tweets about Taiwan, North Korea and trade.
Vincent Zhang, a 37-year-old employee at Jiayuan, a Chinese online dating site, said the flurry of fake Trump tweets he saw his friends sharing showed that many young Chinese had a relatively neutral view of Mr. Trump and saw him as a showman.
\u201cNow it\u2019s a lot of jokes because the trade issues don\u2019t feel like they affect our ordinary lives,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cIf he made it much more difficult to get U. S. visas, then you will see a lot of people insult him.\u201d<\/p>\n