How the Chinese Web Came to Believe the CIA Tried to Assassinate Edward Snowden

It’s official, at least according to Chinese authorities: Officers for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) did not kill several CIA agents sent to Macau and Hong Kong to assassinate National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. Wait, what? Over the last year or so -- it’s difficult to date the rumor’s exact beginning -- a segment of the Chinese Internet has been trying to figure out why in March 2014 China’s military bestowed a top honor on a group of special forces soldiers stationed in Macau in peacetime. And so one of the more popular explanations is that this group of soldiers earned the honor by dispatching a group of CIA operatives sent to kill the world’s most famous whistleblower. The Chinese Internet -- particularly its military forums, powered by a relatively small but dedicated and paranoid coterie of fanboys -- is no stranger to rumors and conspiracy theories.

The Snowden assassination story, along with its Macau connection, is merely one of its gems, and it showcases the Chinese media’s willingness to traffic in unsourced reports and unnamed (and perhaps nonexistent) sources and to cater to the worst instincts of China’s reading public. Now, what was once a rumor has risen to the level that Chinese security officials are batting down the report. In a widely syndicated article published April 27, the investigative outlet Southern Metropolis Daily reported that it reached out to security officials in Macau who said that after investigating the matter and verifying with the PLA’s Macau unit, the reports are “absolutely” not true. The rumor’s eventual jump from the seedy edges of the Internet to the pages of a major online outlet like Phoenix showcases the Chinese media’s unfortunate aversion to proper sourcing. Neither the article repeating the rumors -- nor the story debunking it -- give proper names, dates, or web links for the individuals or articles cited. That makes it much harder for readers to sniff out nonsense and it allows the story to spread. So with facts having long ago been tossed out the window, the story of Snowden’s attempted assassination in Macau has now become a parable for how what you find online only confirms what you already know.