RSF urges probe into China-linked Greek social media accounts
Artemio Dumlao — October 6, 2026
RSF urges probe into China-linked Greek social media accounts
BAGUIO CITY (October 07, 2026) — Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged Greek authorities to investigate whether financial and organizational links between Greek-speaking social media influencers and Chinese state-linked media could amount to a broader foreign interference effort.
This as a Greece Fact Check investigation into three popular accounts — Sweet Hope, Marianna’s Diary and Iro Li’s eponymous page — which collectively have more than 455,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The accounts primarily publish lifestyle content but have also posted material concerning Greece-China relations and other political issues.
One documented example that RSF cited reportedly came on November 27, 2025, when Li posted a video criticizing then-US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle in fluent Greek. The video received more than 610,000 views within days. The political video appeared on a page otherwise focused largely on food, travel and everyday content.
Greece Fact Check reported that Li’s page was sponsored by Zhongshi Vanguard Film and Television Media, a Chinese subsidiary of state broadcaster CCTV.
Meta’s Ad Library also listed Hong Kong Gather Wisdom Network Technology Co. as the advertiser and payment entity for advertisements on the Sweet Hope and Marianna’s Diary pages.
The investigation also reported similar formats, professional production, multiple administrators and paid advertising across the three accounts.
Greece Fact Check said the pages had a combined 47 administrators and ran 227 advertisements between 2021 and 2023. These findings, however, do not by themselves establish that the influencers knowingly participated in a coordinated propaganda operation; Greece Fact Check said it found no direct evidence of such participation.
RSF has separately characterized the content “as a potential concern because of what it says is selective treatment of issues sensitive to Beijing”. It pointed to posts about Xinjiang that highlighted cultural imagery and positive portrayals of Uyghur life while omitting documented allegations of mass detention and coercive assimilation.
RSF said this type of messaging could contribute to a more favorable perception of China, but the organization has called for an investigation to determine whether the networks constitute foreign interference rather than declaring that conclusion established.
This comes amid longstanding Chinese engagement with Greek media through cooperation agreements and other exchanges involving Chinese state media. RSF has called on Greek authorities to examine the financial flows connecting the influencers to Chinese propaganda networks and establish whether they form part of a wider foreign interference campaign.
Greece ranked 86th of 180 countries and territories in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, last among EU members for the fifth consecutive year, while China ranked 178th.
