China's power to spread political influence via social media dwarfs Russia's, according to a report released recently. Just two Chinese social media accounts got one-sixth the engagement of Russia’s entire army of social media operatives during the 2016 elections, it found.
However, the messages spread by the two countries are very different.
The report, titled Beyond Hybrid War: How China Exploits Social Media to Sway American Opinion, came from Insikt Group, the research arm of global risk intelligence company Recorded Future. It found that domestically, China employs an army of astroturfers - pro social media operatives that post messages to distract Chinese audiences and promote a positive image of China.
China takes a different approach to influencing foreign audiences than its techniques at home, though. Instead of an astroturfing army, it uses a handful of verified accounts from state-run media such as Xinhua and People's Daily.
Its messaging is also different. Russia uses hundreds of people, housed in its Internet Research Agency, to seed fear, hatred and discontent overseas and disrupt the democratic process. Conversely, China promotes upbeat messages focused on issues such as China's natural beauty and cultural traditions, along with the country's world impact in areas such as science, technology and sports. It’s part of a broader campaign to improve China’s influence on the world stage by promoting the country in a confident, positive light, Insikt said.
This positive messaging abroad has a powerful effect, according to Recorded Future. The company compared the effect of Russia's social media astroturfing campaign with China's more direct, positive approach with help from data in the Disinformation Report. This December 2018 document from anti-disinformation company New Knowledge analyzed Russia's disinformation activities during the 2016 US election.
Compiling all this data, Insikt found that Xinhua and People's Daily posted 6072 messages across Facebook and Instagram over a 114-day period during the 2016 US election campaign, compared to Russia's 20,194.
“These two Chinese influence profiles reached a level of audience engagement roughly one sixth as large as the entire Russian IRA-associated campaign targeting the United States on Instagram,” the report found.
Both Instagram and Facebook are banned in China, meaning that most if not all of these engagements would likely have come from Western audiences. Even if Chinese astroturfers were allowed through the Great Firewall to boost engagement on these platforms, it would only show how much power China’s astroturfing effort could muster when turned towards an overseas audience.
Verified Chinese state media outlets also ran overtly political advertisements on Western social media platforms, found the Recorded Future report – but Facebook was terrible at picking them up. In addition to a 'sponsored' label, which is often provided, Facebook is supposed to carry a specific 'paid for by' disclaimer alongside any overtly political efforts. It failed to do so.
“Therefore, users viewing the posts during the period in which they were active would not have known that the advertisements were deemed overtly 'political' or of national importance, or even that they were ultimately purchased by the Chinese state,” the report said.
China’s propaganda campaign targeting Western audiences is relatively benign, but still hugely powerful in shaping perceptions of the country overseas. If it ever decided to focus its attention in a more aggressive, disruptive manner, the results could be profound.
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