Editing Falun Gong (section)

==Media influence operations==
{{main|The Epoch Times|Shen Yun}}

The performance arts group [[Shen Yun]] and the media organization ''[[The Epoch Times]]'' are the major outreach organizations of Falun Gong.<ref name="COLLINS-2019"/> Both promote the spiritual and political teachings of Falun Gong.<ref name="TOLENTINO-2019">{{Cite magazine| last=Tolentino | first=Jio|date=2019-03-19|title=Stepping Into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/stepping-into-the-uncanny-unsettling-world-of-shen-yun|access-date=2023-02-10|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US|archive-date=17 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210317102504/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/stepping-into-the-uncanny-unsettling-world-of-shen-yun|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="BRASLOW-2020">{{cite magazine |last=Braslow |first=Samuel |date=9 March 2020 |title=Inside the Shadowy World of Shen Yun and Its Secret Pro-Trump Ties |url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/shen-yun-trump/ |magazine=[[Los Angeles (magazine)|Los Angeles]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310154055/https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/shen-yun-trump/ |archive-date=10 March 2020 |access-date=27 April 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Junker|2019|p=99}} They and a variety of other organizations such as [[New Tang Dynasty Television]] (NTD) operate as extensions of Falun Gong. These extensions promote the new religious movement and its teachings. In the case of ''The Epoch Times'', they also promote [[conspiracy theories]] such as [[QAnon]] and [[Anti-vaccine activism|anti-vaccine]] misinformation{{refn|Anti-vaccine misinformation:
*{{harvnb|Callery|Goddard|2021|ref=TheTimes}}
*{{harvnb|Waldman|2021|ref=EENews}}
*{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/technology/facebook-ads-epoch-times.html|title=Facebook Bans Ads From The Epoch Times|last=Alba|first=Davey|date=23 August 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=16 December 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=17 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210317102616/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/technology/facebook-ads-epoch-times.html|url-status=live}}
*{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/23/20830229/epoch-times-facebook-ban-buying-ads-violating-policies-trump-propaganda|title=Epoch Times banned from advertising after sneaking pro-Trump propaganda onto Facebook|last=Gartenberg|first=Chaim|date=23 August 2019|website=The Verge|language=en|access-date=16 December 2019|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308211510/https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/23/20830229/epoch-times-facebook-ban-buying-ads-violating-policies-trump-propaganda//|url-status=live|ref=theverge.com}}
*{{Cite web |last1=Perrone |first1=Alessio |last2=Loucaides |first2=Darren |date=2022-03-10 |title=A key source for Covid-skeptic movements, the Epoch Times yearns for a global audience |url=https://www.codastory.com/disinformation/epoch-times/ |access-date=2022-03-13 |website=[[Coda Media]] |language=en-US |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313044144/https://www.codastory.com/disinformation/epoch-times/ |url-status=live |ref=212}} }} and [[far-right politics]] in both Europe and the United States.{{sfn|Allen-Ebrahimian|2017}}{{sfn|Hettena|2019|ref=HETTENA-2019}}{{sfn|Perrone|Loucaides|2022|ref=:212}} Around the time of the [[2016 United States presidential election]], ''The Epoch Times'' began running articles supportive of [[Donald Trump]] and critical of his opponents.<ref name="ROOSE-2020">{{Cite news |last=Roose |first=Kevin |date=5 February 2020 |title=Epoch Times, Punished by Facebook, Gets a New Megaphone on YouTube |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/technology/epoch-times-youtube.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206140610/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/technology/epoch-times-youtube.html |archive-date=6 February 2020 |access-date=6 February 2020 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Perrone|Loucaides|2022|ref=:212}} Falun Gong extensions have also been active in promoting the European [[Radical right (Europe)|radical right]].{{sfn|Hettena|2019|ref=HETTENA-2019}}

The exact financial and structural connections between Falun Gong, Shen Yun and ''The Epoch Times'' remains unclear. According to [[NBC News]]:
<blockquote>The Epoch Media Group, along with Shen Yun, a dance troupe known for its ubiquitous advertising and unsettling performances, make up the outreach effort of Falun Gong, a relatively new spiritual practice that combines ancient Chinese meditative exercises, mysticism and often ultraconservative cultural worldviews. Falun Gong's founder has referred to Epoch Media Group as "our media", and the group's practice heavily informs ''The Epoch Times''{{'}} coverage, according to former employees who spoke with NBC News.

''The Epoch Times'', digital production company NTD and the heavily advertised dance troupe Shen Yun make up the nonprofit network that Li calls "our media". Financial documents paint a complicated picture of more than a dozen technically separate organizations that appear to share missions, money and executives. Though the source of their revenue is unclear, the most recent financial records from each organization paint a picture of an overall business thriving in the Trump era.<ref name="COLLINS-2019"/></blockquote>

According to scholar [[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]] writing in 2018, Falun Gong adherents have attempted to control [[English Wikipedia]] articles covering the group and articles related to it. Lewis highlights Falun Gong's extensive internet presence, and how editors who have to date contributed to English Wikipedia entries associated with Falun Gong to the point where "Falun Gong followers and/or sympathizers de facto control the relevant pages on Wikipedia", and how this is particularly important for Falun Gong as an organization due to the [[search engine optimization]] results of these entries, and how the entries can influence other media entities. Lewis notes also how this fits in as part of Falun Gong's general media strategy, such as Falun Gong media like ''The Epoch Times'', New Tang Dynasty, Sound of Hope Radio, and, as Lewis discusses, the Rachlin media group. Lewis reports that the Rachlin media group is the Falun Gong's de facto PR firm operated by Gail Rachlin, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Centre. Lewis says that Amnesty International does not independently verify its reports from Falun Gong groups, accepting material directly from Falun Gong organizations as fact. According to Lewis, "[Falun Gong] has thus been able to influence other media via its presence on the web, through its direct press releases, and through its own media."<ref name="FG-WIKIPEDIA">Lewis, James R. 2018. ''Falun Gong: Spiritual Warfare and Martyrdom'', pp. 80–81. Cambridge University Press. "Falun Gong followers and/or sympathizers de facto control the relevant pages on Wikipedia"</ref>