How a US tech baron helped push Chinese propaganda worldwide: What NYT’s investigation found

NYT’s report also found mention in the Parliament. Claiming that the article exposed the “tukde tukde gang” and “some media”, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey alleged that China was giving money to the Congress to oppose the Central government.

“They want to divide India through Chinese forces and some media,” Dubey shouted as BJP MPs thumped their desks in support. The ensuing din led to the house being adjourned.

An outline of the investigation

A recent investigation by The New York Times found that US tech baron Neville Roy Singham helped push Chinese propaganda worldwide through his network of nonprofits.

“From a think tank in Massachusetts to an event space in Manhattan, from a political party in South Africa to news organizations in India and Brazil, The Times tracked hundreds of millions of dollars to groups linked to Mr Singham that mix progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points,” The New York Times reported.

Notably, Indian news outlet NewsClick found mention in the report – albeit in just a single paragraph. “In New Delhi, corporate filings show, Mr Singham’s network financed a news site, NewsClick,” NYT reported.

Neville Singham: A Marxist with a software company

The primary focus of NYT’s investigation is tech mogul Neville Roy Singham (born 1954).

Singham founded ThoughtWorks, a global technology consultancy, in the late 1980s and made a fortune working with some of the biggest corporations in the world. Today, ThoughtWorks’ client list (as per its website) includes companies ranging from Australian airline Qantas and German pharma giant Bayer to news agency Thomson Reuters, retail giant Walmart and India’s Axis Bank. Singham sold the company to a private equity firm in 2017, for a reported sum of well over $785 million.

But unlike almost any other tech entrepreneur in the world, Neville Singham is a self-proclaimed socialist and has been associated with progressive and left-wing causes since his youth. “He was unabashed about his politics. A former company technical director, Majdi Haroun, recalled Mr Singham lecturing him on the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara,” the NYT report said.

Links to Chinese government and the CCP

Today, Singham is based out of Shanghai, and openly supports the CCP. “ … last month, Mr Singham joined a Communist Party workshop about promoting the party internationally,” NYT found.

Singham himself has denied any links to the party and the government, saying that his actions are guided by his long-held personal beliefs. But as per NYT’s report, the line between him and China’s propaganda apparatus is “blurry”.

Singham even shares office space in Shanghai with the Maku Group, “whose goal is to educate foreigners about ‘the miracles that China has created on the world stage.’” He has also given the group nearly $1.8 million in funding.

The New York Times reported that Singham is at the forefront of a concerted effort by the Chinese, under President Xi Jinping, to rope in foreign influencers to push pro-China narratives as seemingly independent content.

“Mr Singham’s groups have produced YouTube videos that, together, racked up millions of views. They also seek to influence real-world politics … The result is a seemingly organic bloom of far-left groups that echo Chinese government talking points,” NYT reported.

How Singham’s network works

As per The New York Times, Singham furthered Chinese interests through a network of nonprofit organisations registered in the US.

“At its centre were four new nonprofits with dust-dry names like “United Community Fund” and “Justice and Education Fund.” They have almost no real-world footprints, listing their addresses only as UPS store mailboxes in Illinois, Wisconsin and New York,” NYT found.

Due to US law, which does not require nonprofits to declare the names of individual donors, Singham operates in relative obscurity while wielding significant control over these groups, NYT alleged. One of these nonprofits is headed by Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, and others are run by former ThoughWorks employees.

From these nonprofits, “millions of dollars flowed around the world,” The New York Times found. From a South African political party to American YouTube channels, from an Indian news website (more on that, later) to nonprofits in Africa – Singham’s money found its way everywhere, with these beneficiary organisations operating in coordination and often sharing each other’s resources.

Feeding people Chinese propaganda

But what exactly do these organisations do? The New York Times explained, using Africa as an example.

As is well known, China is arguably the biggest foreign player in Africa today. In recent times, it has pumped in a lot of resources into the continent, often outdoing the West. However, according to critics, China’s seeming benevolence comes with strings attached – from unfavourable loan deals to disproportionate influence in countries’ domestic affairs.

NYT found that Singham-linked non-profit “People’s Support Foundation” had invested at least $450,000 to organise boot camps for African activists and politicians, which fed them pro-China messages.

“At a recent session, reading packets said that the United States was waging a “hybrid war” against China by distorting information about Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Xinjiang region where Uyghurs were held in camps,” NYT reported, adding that “the packets praised Chinese loans, calling them “an opportunity for African states to construct genuine, and sovereign, development projects.””

The New York Times also found that Singham funded news startup New Frame, which some have accused of having an undeniable “pro-China slant”. In June 2022, editor Darryl Accone resigned, criticising New Frame’s soft coverage of China and Russia.

Code Pink: hijacking a progressive organisation

Singham was also accused by The New York Times of “hijacking” progressive causes and movements. An example of this is the activist group Code Pink, founded by Singham’s wife Jodie Evans, a Democratic Party insider turned activist, ahead of the Iraq War.

Evans used to be an ardent critic of China’s repressive regime and its human rights situation. However, since 2017, when she got married to Singham, her tune has changed. Today, she casts China as a defender of the oppressed and a model for economic growth for the world to look up to.

This comes at a time when about a quarter of Code Pink’s funding – approximately $1.4 million since 2017 – can be traced back to Singham and his nonprofits. As an organisation too, Code Pink has been extreme in its defence of China. It has likened Hong Kong protesters with January 6 rioters and denied evidence of forced labour in Xinjiang, NYT’s report said.

“They are capitalising on very legitimate concerns in order to push this pro-authoritarian narrative,” Brian Hioe, an editor with New Bloom, a progressive Taiwanese news site, told The New York Times.

NewsClick’s alleged China links

In India, Singham financed online news outlet NewsClick, NYT said. While the report did not specify the details of Singham’s financial dealings with NewsClick, it said that the online news portal “sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points.”

It cited a particular video which commemorated 70 years of China’s Maoist revolution, remarking that “China’s revolutionary history continues to inspire the working classes and people’s struggles across the world against capitalist exploitation and imperialist aggression.”

Founded in 2009, NewsClick “is an independent media organisation” which has, “over the years, become one of India’s most consistent chroniclers of diverse people’s movements and struggles”, its website says.

In 2021, the Enforcement Directorate raided its offices and the residences of its directors, in connection to “foreign remittances allegedly totalling Rs 30.51 crore”, The Indian Express reported at the time. Under scrutiny were a number of donors including companies which NYT linked to Singham and the Chinese state.

The largest tranche of remittances, totalling to Rs 19.76 crore, was from “Justice & Education Fund Inc”, ED officials told The Indian Express in 2021. This is one of the nonprofits funded by Singham, as per the NYT report.

Later that year, in September, Income Tax surveys were conducted on the premises of two news portals, including NewsClick, with a senior department official telling The Indian Express that the surveys were related to alleged tax evasion.