In 2019, Singham started a consulting business with partners who are active in the propaganda apparatus of the Chinese Communist Party and who co-own a company with a municipal government that promotes anti-poverty policies.
[2][3] A socialist and supporter of Maoism, according to The New York Times, Singham has provided significant funding for media outlets, organizations and politicians around the world that promote pro-Chinese government propaganda.
[6] Singham sold the company to private equity firm Apax Partners in 2017 for $785 million, by which time it had 4,500 employees across 15 countries, including South Africa and Uganda.
[6] As of 2023, his office is located in Shanghai, and is shared with the Maku Group, "whose goal is to educate foreigners about 'the miracles that China has created on the world stage'" and has been given nearly $1.8 million in funding.
"[10] He is a supporter of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, speaking in his defense at a 2011 event hosted by The Real News Network, alongside fellow activist software businessman Peter Thiel and former intelligence whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.
The staff wanted to keep raising money to continue the project, with some suspecting that it was the only publication not have fallen into line ideologically with the rest of Singham's network of outlets.
Funded groups include: an Indian-based independent news site, NewsClick, that the Times described as having "sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points"; in South Africa the Nkrumah School, the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party and the New Frame news startup[9] (whose editor had resigned in 2022 citing its "soft coverage" of China and Russia); the Brasil de Fato newspaper in Brazil; and activist groups No Cold War, Code Pink, People's Forum, and Tricontinental in the United States.
In response to the Times report, Singham said that he was not a "member of, work for, take orders from, or follow instructions of any political party or government or their representatives".
[4] Following the August 2023 New York Times report, US senator Marco Rubio asked the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into entities related to Singham for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
[22] The Delhi Police also opened an investigation into NewsClick, focused on funding by Singham and its role in pushing a pro-China narrative.