Influence operationsConcerns Growing that China's Influence Operations Getting Bolder

By Jeff Seldin

Published 23 August 2019

The U.S. intelligence community has warned that the battle for information dominance has been joined. Until now, much of the focus on been on Russia for its use of social media to meddle in a number of Western elections, including the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and, more recently, the 2018 congressional elections. But top U.S. intelligence officials have repeatedly warned Russia is not alone, and that other U.S adversaries would be using lessons from Moscow’s successes for their own purposes.

Revelations that China has been using social media accounts to influence public opinion on continuing protests in Hong Kong are reinforcing warnings from U.S. intelligence that the battle for information dominance has been joined. 

Until now, much of the focus on been on Russia for its use of social media to meddle in a number of Western elections, including the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and, more recently, the 2018 congressional elections.

But top U.S. intelligence officials have repeatedly warned Russia is not alone, and that other U.S adversaries would be using lessons from Moscow’s successes for their own purposes.

No adversary, they said, posed a bigger threat than China.

The Chinese government uses all of the capabilities at their disposal to influence U.S. policies, spread propaganda, manipulate the media,” former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said during a talk last September.

Around the same time, President Donald Trump began calling out China for placing ads and stories critical of the U.S.-China trade talks in regional newspapers.

Such overt messaging through state media organs has long been a part of China’s approach to trying to sway American opinion, unlike Russia’s efforts targeting the U.S. in 2016, which involved the use of troll farms and numerous fake personas.

However, U.S. intelligence officials and some private sector analysts saw indications China was preparing to escalate its efforts. And less than three months later, the U.S. director of national intelligence sounded an additional alarm, accusing China, along with Russia, of actively meddling in the 2018 congressional elections.

Twitter, Facebook
This week, the world got another indication Beijing has intensified its efforts when Twitter announced Monday it had taken down 936 accounts “deliberately and specifically attempting to sow political discord” and undermine ongoing anti-government protests that have gripped Hong Kong.

Facebook soon followed, announcing it had removed seven pages, three groups and five accounts, all linked “to individuals associated with the Chinese government.”