The 33-year-old Australian researcher, who asked that her real named not be used for this text , tiptoes her way through these far-right Chinese-American networks as an “undercover” infiltrator so as to know how disinformation flows through the diaspora.
“I see similar disinformation every single day,” says Ms Wu. “I am uninterested with it and curious to see out the origin.”
She first noticed a surge of pandemic-related fake news within the overseas Chinese diaspora last summer as coronavirus swept the world .
To combat the spread of misinformation, she organised a gaggle of many volunteer fact-checkers to debunk these fake stories, but it didn’t take long for them to be overwhelmed by a replacement flood of misinformation about the US presidential election.
False claims of voter fraud, especially , spread like wildfire among extremely conservative Chinese immigrants in North America – a little but vocal group among diaspora communities.
“They are very politically active, and sometimes act collectively,” Ms Wu says.
Most members of those chat rooms are fervent Chinese-American supporters of former US President Donald Trump, identify as Christian and harbour strongly critical views of the Chinese Communist Party .
Ms Wu doesn’t post anything within the chat rooms. She only observes conversations. But other chat participants exchange tens of thousands of messages a day .
“The more (donations), the merrier,” it read.
A dozen donors stated on the fundraising site that they’re Americans or Canadians of Chinese, Hong Konger or Taiwanese descent. Some commented in Chinese, wishing the injured Proud Boy members “a speedy recovery”.
In but a month, the fundraiser raised over $100,000 (£72,000), consistent with data provided by the whistle-blower site Distributed Denial of Secrets and reviewed by BBC News.
Of the nearly 1,000 individual contributions, quite 80% came from donors with Chinese surnames.
A Chinese-American woman who gifted $500 told USA Today: “You need to understand how we feel – we came from China and that we managed to return here and that we appreciate it here such a lot .”
Rise of the Chinese-American right
Chinese immigrants within the US became a rising force in conservative politics.
Many are propelled to the right-wing political arena by their opposition to social action , a policy that aims to scale back inequality in education and employment, but is seen by some Chinese-Americans as damaging to the tutorial opportunities of their children and grandchildren.
Anti-communism beliefs also play a crucial role in mobilising right-wing Chinese Americans, as some had believed that the Trump administration’s hardline policy on China would apply pressure on Beijing and eventually cause the communist regime’s downfall.