Foreign forces are using social media to spread the notion that Chinese young people should be “lying flat” and not working hard as they seek to undermine China’s development, the country’s top anti-espionage agency warned.

In recent years, anti-China forces have been trying to magnify social anxiety by continuously “promoting negative notions” that effort is futile and hard work makes no gain, the Ministry of State Security said in a WeChat post on Tuesday.

The intention was to “erode the spirit of perseverance among China’s youth and even undermine the foundational values of our society”.

The ministry said it found that foreign organisations helped to fund anti-China media and think tanks to create a narrative that described people who worked hard in China as being exploited.

The unnamed organisations had also helped influencers to produce videos advertising that “lying flat is justice” and “anti-overwork is equivalent to anti-exploitation”, it said.

Meanwhile, their home countries, which were not specified, had been busy introducing bills to revitalise their economies and attract global talent.