As Australian gold medallist Mack Horton and defending Olympic 1,500m champion Sun Yang prepare for a likely rematch in the pool on Sunday, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of fans in Australia, will be barracking for Sun.

Australia's online Chinese-language media community has been among the most vocal in leading the backlash this week to Horton's comments labelling Sun a "drug cheat".

Media Today group co-founder David Han said: "The patriotism of Chinese, especially overseas Chinese, is strong, so I think our response is pretty normal, although some are a bit aggressive."

A Channel Seven graphic mixed up the Chinese flag with the Chilean flag. ( Supplied: Sydney Today )

The company's online platforms include Sydney Today, which has 300,000 subscribers on Chinese social media app WeChat.

"As a social media platform, we're just showing people's opinion. We do not have much connection with China," he said of the service, which has an office in Sydney's Chinatown.

Since the Horton controversy erupted, Sydney Today has been running daily articles, packed full of memes and outrage about Horton and the Australian media's coverage.

Coverage gaffes or intentional slights?

Channel Seven has been among the biggest targets, because it briefly mistook the Chinese flag for the Chilean flag in a graphic, and took a commercial break as China walked in at the opening ceremony.

"I think it is self-motivated patriotic behaviour — I think Australian media misinterpreted the Sun Yang story and they have taken it out of context", Mr Han said.

Some online Chinese-language media have been highlighting China-based Australian teacher David Gulasi's social media posts. ( Weibo: DavidHohhot )

One of the most popular articles, viewed more than 100,000 times, was headlined: "You stupid c***! Quickly apologise to Sun Yang" — quoting a China-based Australian English teacher who posted comments and memes supportive of Sun on Chinese social media.

Steven He, the managing director of Yeeyi, a rival Chinese-language online platform that claims to have 2 million daily page views, said many users were beginning to see the Australian media as intentionally sidelining China.

"Most people think Horton was not polite, while some others believe there are ulterior motives," Mr He said.

He says the Australian media's willingness to back the claims that one of China's most popular Olympic athletes is a drug cheat, mixed with Channel Seven's mistakes, has prompted anger among the Chinese community.

"From our readers' perspective, [the opening ceremony ad break] was an accident the first time. But after Channel Seven mistook Chile's flag as the Chinese flag, and then there were a whole series of other accidents — more and more Chinese started to believe they did it on purpose, because there were too many coincidences," he said.

Australia has long had a thriving Chinese-language media scene, but increasing migration from mainland China along with a growing number of international students has reshaped the media landscape.

Newspapers founded by migrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan that were often sceptical of the Chinese Communist Party have increasingly lost influence as websites and other online platforms espouse views in sync with mainland China's views proliferate.

Social media sites walk fine line of neutrality

Such platforms have from time to time been forums for jingoistic and angry articles about Australia's stance on contentious issues, such as the South China Sea.

"We try to be neutral and objective", Mr Han said.

"We don't want to hurt the friendship between China and Australia because of the emotive words."

A photo posted on Chinese-language media outlet Sydney Today shows CFMEU members at a protest against Channel 7 in Sydney. Demonstrators demanded an apology for Olympic coverage mistakes which they deemed offensive to Australia's Chinese community. ( Supplied: Sydney Today )

Among the posts being widely shared this week was the unusual sight of CFMEU tradesmen staging a small protest outside Seven's Sydney headquarters, demanding a written apology for the Chinese flag gaffe.

While Channel Seven did apologise for the coverage glitches, Horton and the Australian Olympic Team have seen no reason to do so.

"I think if they understood [how we feel], they would apologise," Mr He said.