China is growing its disinformation efforts, but few are talking about it

This appeared in The Millennial Source

Following the 2016 presidential election, Russia’s interference in American politics has regularly been discussed by intelligence agencies in the West and in the media. These reports have suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to continue attempting to interfere in elections, both this year in the United States and into the future.

Yet, as the narrative around disinformation campaigns has focused almost exclusively on Russia, some are concerned that similar disinformation efforts by China continue to be ignored.

Mark Grabowski, the associate professor of communications at Adelphi University, warns that American journalists and academics far too often dismiss Chinese disinformation campaigns as “primitive.”

Research recently conducted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) suggests that China’s information warfare is getting more sophisticated and is, increasingly, seeking Western targets.

Twitter disinformation warfare

Since 2016, Russia’s online disinformation campaign has gotten more sophisticated, with cyber and political experts warning that the main goal is sowing confusion and domestic discord…