BEIJING — China wants to recruit 10 million young people, mostly university students belonging to the Communist Party’s youth wing, to “spread positive energy” on the Internet – in other words, to use social media to praise and defend the government.

Web users recently posted a document issued by the China Communist Youth League dated Feb. 13 that asks for no less than 20 percent of its members to be recruited as “cyber civilization volunteers,” who would be expected to become “good Chinese Netizens” and promote the “voice of good youth.”

China had nearly 650 million Internet users at the end of 2014, official figures show. Among them are millions of online commentators who post pro-government comments and attack those critical of the authorities. They are known as the 50-cent party, because they are supposedly paid 50 Chinese cents (also known as 5 mao, equivalent to 8 U.S. cents) per post.

This latest scheme would significantly expand their numbers with a volunteer force. The students would be expected to post content online “to promote socialist core values,” with each person asked to participate in a so-called “sunshine comments” campaign at least three times this year.

The Youth League also posted a series of cartoons Friday on its Weibo microblogging account describing the responsibilities of a young volunteer. One of the slides shows a young man holding a knight’s helmet waving a sword at “uncivilized” comments.