Finding China's Edge. Engineering Influence Operations within the Limits of Social Media Platform Rules
After the COVID-19 outbreak, China has made concerted effort to control the narratives about its own crisis response and create an image as a reliable international partner. Analyzing China’s influence efforts, this Cyberdefense Report cuts through questions of factual accuracy and seeks to focus on the longer-term interests and priorities that shape Beijing’s messaging. It looks at China’s tactical evolutions in social media use to further understand which capability developments may persevere.
To arrive at a careful evaluation of impact vectors, this report concentrates on how the tactics of China’s influence operations have evolved during the first year of the pandemic.
Looking at China’s key priority of information control, the first section conceptualizes the adaptation of influence operations to align with this preference of control while taking advantage of the global reach of social media. Building on this understanding, section two explores the ways in which Chinese influence operations have attempted to systematically exploit carve-outs that have emerged from how social media platforms have regulated statements from political figures and newsworthy content. Section three analyzes in more detail the integrated messaging apparatus China has sought to develop, in particular with respect to the specific roles that China’s diplomatic network, state media, and fake social media accounts play in creating, shaping, and promoting narratives. Unpacking China’s attempts to distinguish its endeavor of narrative control from disinformation campaigns, section four examines China’s responses to accusations of disinformation and steps taken by social media companies and by targeted states to address this specific tactic. The report concludes with evaluating the potential implications of China’s influence operations in terms of their immediate objective to shape international perceptions of China’s actions during the pandemic and raises attention about the capabilities developed in this process and their potential deployment in case of a further deterioration of relations with China.