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The news, with the spin made visible.
Outlet profile

The Epoch Times

U.S. right

Owned byThe Epoch Times Association, a U.S. nonprofit controlled by practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual movement; co-founded in 2000 by John Tang, who resigned as CEO in June 2024
FundingPrimarily digital subscriptions and online advertising; also receives donations from conservative donors (including Donors Trust and the National Christian Charitable Foundation); revenue grew from roughly $15.5 million in 2019 to over $122 million by 2021
On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 in Atlanta, Georgia, by John Tang and other Chinese Americans affiliated with Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that has faced severe persecution in China since 1999. What began as a Chinese-language newsletter opposing the Chinese Communist Party expanded into an English-language publication by 2003–2004 and eventually grew to publish in more than 20 languages across dozens of countries. Editorial direction has long been influenced by Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi; former employees described top editors traveling to his Dragon Springs compound for strategic guidance, though the outlet denied this. Around 2019–2020, the outlet aggressively shifted toward U.S. right-wing politics, becoming the second-largest purchaser of pro-Trump Facebook advertising during the 2020 election cycle, outspending nearly every other media organization aside from Trump's own campaign. During that period it also promoted QAnon conspiracy theories, anti-vaccine narratives, false claims of 2020 election fraud, and climate change denial, drawing sustained criticism from fact-checkers and media researchers. Revenue grew sharply alongside that pivot, but scrutiny followed: in June 2024, CFO Weidong 'Bill' Guan was federally indicted on charges of laundering at least $67 million in fraudulently obtained funds; Guan pleaded not guilty and as of mid-2026 the case had not reached a final verdict. Founder John Tang resigned as CEO in June 2024 following the indictment; new leadership pursued editorial reforms, and a March 2025 NewsGuard review found the outlet had corrected dozens of previously false articles and had not published verifiably false claims in ten consecutive months. AllSides, after blind surveys and two independent editorial reviews in late 2025, rates the outlet 'Lean Right.'

Sources

  1. The Epoch Times – Wikipedia
  2. How the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times went mainstream and made millions – NBC News
  3. Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times – NBC News
  4. The Epoch Times faces a federal money laundering indictment – NPR
  5. Money laundering charges raise questions about the direction of The Epoch Times – NPR
  6. DOJ: CFO of Multinational Media Company Charged With Money Laundering – U.S. Department of Justice
  7. The Epoch Times Media Bias – AllSides
  8. The Epoch Times – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check

Profile compiled 2026-06-30; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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