How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on #Coronavirus

ProPublica analyzed thousands of fake and hijacked Twitter accounts to understand how covert Chinese propaganda spreads around the globe. #ChinaLiedPeopleDied https://t.co/J147eyh3DR

— Noemi L. Dado (@momblogger) March 28, 2020

Hugely important investigation from ProPublica:

Since August 2019, ProPublica has tracked more than 10,000 suspected fake Twitter accounts involved in a coordinated influence campaign with ties to the Chinese government. https://t.co/usgD0XfXqM

— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) March 27, 2020

Since Aug 2019, @propublica tracked more than 10,000 suspected fake Twitter accounts involved in a coordinated influence campaign with ties to the Chinese government https://t.co/frwqgD9SlP

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) March 27, 2020

A Chinese influence campaign tried to bribe @badiucao with $240 to post a positive video clip about China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and other goodies in this great @jeffykao piece: https://t.co/kyDA7mtwtY

— Melissa Chan (@melissakchan) March 26, 2020

.@propublica analyzed thousands of fake and hijacked Twitter accounts to understand how covert Chinese propaganda spreads around the globe https://t.co/OpCDiO9tRB

— Christopher Walker (@Walker_CT) March 26, 2020

Hugely important investigation from ProPublica:

Since August 2019, ProPublica has tracked more than 10,000 suspected fake Twitter accounts involved in a coordinated influence campaign with ties to the Chinese government. https://t.co/usgD0XfXqM

— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) March 27, 2020

https://t.co/KocpTFRPPH

Someone's hacked your mind.

— Brandon Downey (@bdowney) March 28, 2020

How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus https://t.co/Bm7drzpdGI

— NCSC (@NCSCgov) March 27, 2020

How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus — ProPublica https://t.co/PqwgjbPbPq

— BenTallmadge (@BenKTallmadge) March 28, 2020

Must read report on how the CCP is using social media to conduct information warfare, especially when it comes to Coronavirus. Make no mistake: we’re seeing a coordinated propaganda campaign to erase the Party’s disastrous role in the current crisis. https://t.co/ONNWEiF0Q0

— Rep. Mike Gallagher (@RepGallagher) March 27, 2020

China is really into making anything go viralhttps://t.co/PRDOBGTViW pic.twitter.com/CjGBtiWcmn

— Josh (@JoshLeCash) March 28, 2020

The must-read piece of the day from @propublica, which examines the systematic propagandic effort launched by #Beijing on @Twitter since the #antiELAB movement and reached its peak during the #COVID19 outbreak. Kudos to @jeffykao and @badiucao. https://t.co/C8mpp0mKvZ

— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) March 27, 2020

We must listen to scientists & researchers like @CT_Bergstrom
because they are not only fighting ‘partisan epistemology’ but bad faith FOREIGN intervention

Please do your best to RT facts not opinions‼️#BlockTheBS#COVIDFactshttps://t.co/aMeWIzBQ6Whttps://t.co/1z4hMQqfsU

— Norberta, Freshly Scrubbed & Secluded Dragon (@Norberta36) March 28, 2020

How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus https://t.co/CGn5sEbF7T

— Semir Mujkić (@semirmujkic) March 28, 2020

How #China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on #Coronavirus https://t.co/8khExcALOL #coronavirus #Covid_19 #COVID19

— Evan Kirstel #StayHome #RemoteWork (@evankirstel) March 28, 2020

"Trump’s comments reflect a propaganda victory for Xi."
Read @kgilsinan on China's absurd victory lap:https://t.co/lx6VCWa7ZP

— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) March 28, 2020

"If China prematurely declares victory and they’re wrong, that could lead to a second wave of infections. It’s quite sobering to think what that would mean...” - @RushDoshi

Great article by @kgilsinan @TheAtlantic #coronavirus #Chinahttps://t.co/UwizY7j1NQ

— Martijn Rasser (@MartijnRasser) March 28, 2020

Hear! Hear! “Democracies like South Korea & Taiwan have, through their own successes against the virus, proved that authoritarianism is not the required ingredient.” https://t.co/Pk8BxeYGzZ #CCPVirus #CCPLiedPeopleDied #CCPCoverup

— Fenella Sung (@FenellaSung1) March 28, 2020

“The #CCP model of mass roundups of citizens & extensive surveillance with no real public-health purpose is not, or shouldn’t be, exportable to democracies.” #CCPVirus #CCPCoverup #CCPLiedPeopleDied #CCPVirus_Coronavirus #CCPcoronavirus https://t.co/Pk8BxeH5bp

— Fenella Sung (@FenellaSung1) March 28, 2020

“China and Russia have seized on the coronavirus to wage disinformation campaigns to sow doubts about the United States’ handling of the crisis”

? LOL

The US handling of the crisis is a disaster, stop blaming adversaries for making people think that
https://t.co/uNscoSlAYT

— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) March 28, 2020

NEW: US & China have reached tentative truce on public blame-game for the virus. But China will likely use Russian playbook & push anti-US propaganda via covert ops. Chinese officials have been borrowing from pro-Russia sites. w/ @julianbarnes @AllMattNYT. https://t.co/4ZVxXb9Bqn

— Edward Wong (@ewong) March 28, 2020

China takes a playbook from Russia as it spreads disinformation about Russia, utilizing same conspiracy sites and same strategy: sowing doubt. https://t.co/ct44m4rB9y

— Julian E. Barnes (@julianbarnes) March 28, 2020

"Kremlin-aligned" = outlets that publish stuff that @nytimes doesn't like. And by "conspiracy theory," @nytimes doesn't mean the sort of evidence-free stuff the paper daily traffics in such as the claim that the Kremlin stole the 2016 election for Trump. https://t.co/77LWfNNCmo pic.twitter.com/iicVqYl7DD

— George Szamuely (@GeorgeSzamuely) March 28, 2020

Typical of the demented propaganda put out by a decaying empire "we're not failing! It's all Russian/Chinese lies"! https://t.co/ZdPUNso2A7

— Red Star Radio ☭ (@Red_Star_Radio_) March 28, 2020

I tweeted snarkily about this yesterday, but it looks like one of the groups that tracked Russia's online disinformation will start doing the same for China. https://t.co/w8CWXKzaKu pic.twitter.com/kqyH9voeHF

— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) March 28, 2020

As Virus Spreads, China and Russia See Openings for Disinformation https://t.co/CcpBpWYD9i

— NCSC (@NCSCgov) March 28, 2020

Propaganda as counter-propaganda: In the topsy-turvy world of the @NYTimes, it's China that wants to "sow doubts about the US handling of the crisis" to "deflect attention from their own struggles with the pandemic."https://t.co/MqI6m3B43K

— Jim Naureckas (@JNaureckas) March 28, 2020

Read full @nytimes article with @AllMattNYT & @ewong https://t.co/ct44m4rB9y

— Julian E. Barnes (@julianbarnes) March 28, 2020

"China and Russia have both seized on the novel coronavirus to wage disinformation campaigns that seek to sow doubts about the United States’ handling of the crisis and deflect attention from their own struggles with the pandemic." https://t.co/glGaTQMMl7

— Jim Golby (@jimgolby) March 28, 2020

In the days to come, China is likely to back off the public spread of disinformation through its Foreign Ministry and network of embassies and to more fully embrace the more subtle Russian-style approach. https://t.co/7hdb7i235h @julianbarnes @AllMattNYT @ewong

— Adam Goldman (@adamgoldmanNYT) March 28, 2020

Atlas is proud to deliver @MSPowerBI tech for @SecureDemocracy to track disinformation. New piece by @julianbarnes @AllMattNYT @ewong highlights how this work is changing with #coronavirus https://t.co/x57k8OEOE6

— Atlas Public Policy (@AtlasPolicy) March 28, 2020

"One senior American official said China had signaled to the United States that it would throttle its disinformation in the face of criticism from European countries and the U.S. State Department. Other officials said China was merely shifting tactics": https://t.co/5Bh89tBupx

— Andrew Small (@ajwsmall) March 28, 2020

12. ? An important investigation from @propublica's @jeffykao & Mia Shuang Li

"Our research tracked how the government-linked influence accounts that had targeted political dissidents and the HK protests turned their focus to the coronavirus outbreak"https://t.co/QwklxOQ5gb

— Reuters Institute (@risj_oxford) March 29, 2020

How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus — ProPublica https://t.co/AYjtHRoDvt

— Italians For Trump (@Italians4Trump) March 29, 2020

NEW: We found the Chinese government running covert influence campaigns on Twitter.

Their most recent target? The coronavirus pandemic.

I’ve tracked them since August 2019. My latest investigation @ProPublica with @miainchina.https://t.co/tG0NhxPcIJ

— Jeff Kao (@jeffykao) March 26, 2020

How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus https://t.co/MdmkasAbn2

— Jeffs (@jeffs_araujo35) March 29, 2020

the excellent @propublica investigation into Chinese propaganda operations on Twitter looked into that 'wife of a HK police' account that was furiously tweeting anti-protest stuff last year https://t.co/3EqR0VrPmf pic.twitter.com/fP88FG5pzW

— isabella steger (@stegersaurus) March 27, 2020

As Virus Spreads, China and Russia See Openings for Disinformation https://t.co/48PzpBWNrH

— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 29, 2020

A war on disinformation begins.
Don't trust the fake news from China and Russia.#ChinaLiedPeopleDied https://t.co/oGiyuDXaNJ

— sep in hk (@sep_hk) March 29, 2020

The US military rendered aid to Italy, but all any of us saw was China, Russia, and Cuba showboating over there. That's how far behind we are when it comes to influence operations.https://t.co/L9fA7TkZPW

— Jack Murphy (@JackMurphyRGR) March 29, 2020

As Virus Spreads, China and Russia See Openings for Disinformation https://t.co/9L4k2jp1bh

— Bill Bishop (@niubi) March 28, 2020