The Chinese government has built up the world’s largest known online disinformation operation and is using it to harass US residents, politicians, and businesses—at times threatening its targets with violence, a CNN review of court documents and public disclosures by social media companies has found.
The onslaught of attacks – often of a vile and deeply personal nature – is part of a well-organized, increasingly brazen Chinese government intimidation campaign targeting people in the United States, documents show.
The US State Department says the tactics are part of a broader multi-billion-dollar effort to shape the world’s information environment and silence critics of Beijing that has expanded under President Xi Jinping. On Wednesday, President Biden is due to meet Xi at a summit in San Francisco.
Victims face a barrage of tens of thousands of social media posts that call them traitors, dogs, and racist and homophobic slurs. They say it’s all part of an effort to drive them into a state of constant fear and paranoia.
Is there proof this is coming from the government? Why can’t this just be regular trolling?
A lot, likely most, of the trolling we seem to take as a necesserary consquence of social media seems to be influence operations from Russia and China (as the largest players, of course there are others).
That’s what strikes people the most when they go from X to Mastodon. 90% less followers, but more actual engagement and practically none of the harassment.
It seems most people simply don’t troll.
But where’s the proof that China is literally paying them to troll? Why can’t this just be organic trolling from Chinese people and pro-China sympathizers that legitimately just hate the West?
I mean if I thought I could harass politicians and get away with it…
Cognitive domain, it’s not a new concept.
It’s speculation, with circumstantial evidence at best.
Occums razor, evidence isn’t necessary.
That doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Occam’s razor, this is probably a coordinated troll group. Jumping from that to “and so this is an operation by the Chinese government” requires evidence, though, because Occam’s razor says this is a group of trolls who just do this for fun or as vigilantes.
A coordinated trolling campaign from channers or goons would look basically the same, just with different targets.
Naw man, everyone who can exercise influence by the methods we are broadly referencing is already doing it.
It is harder to explain why the powerful Chineese wouldn’t be doing it when every other relevant group is.
I don’t think there’s proof everyone is using paid agents to systematically troll and harass enemies of the state. This is a pretty specific thing.
Surveillance is one thing. This is different.
I’d believe it if I saw proof, but I don’t see proof. I see circumstantial evidence and speculation.
Charges aren’t convictions.
From the article:
I don’t trust Meta or Xitter about anything else, why would I trust them on this issue?
You stike me as the type of person who didn’t read the article and will refuse to read any follow up articles explaining the research.
I’m willing to believe this is coordinated, but again, no proof that this is some kind of paid government opp. In fact, it sounds almost indistinguishable from how 4chan used to operate (before it was invaded by boomers).