The Chinese Communist Party has come to embrace social media as a way to influence domestic and foreign public opinion, actively seeking to use social media platforms for both overt propaganda and covert influence operations. The authors use extensive original Chinese-language open-source primary materials to examine how the Chinese military has conceptualized and operationalized its approach to cyber-enabled influence operations.
Authors
Smith, Jackson, Beauchamp-Mustafaga, Nathan, Marcellino, William, Green, Kieran, Lilly, Sale
Related Organizations
- Division
- RAND National Security Research Division International Security and Defense Policy Program
- Pages
- 183
- Published in
- United States
- RAND Identifier
- RR-A2679-1
- RAND Type
- report
- Rights
- RAND Corporation
- Series
- Research Reports
- Source
- https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2679-1.html
Table of Contents
- Dr. Li Bicheng or How China Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social Media Manipulation 1
- About This Report 3
- National Security Research Division NSRD 3
- Acknowledgments 3
- Summary 5
- Issue 5
- Approach 5
- Key Findings 6
- Recommendations 6
- Contents 7
- Figures and Tables 9
- Figures 9
- Tables 9
- Chapter 1. Introduction 10
- Research Approach and Scope 11
- Literature Review 13
- Report Outline 16
- Chapter 2. How China Fell in Love with Foreign Social Media Manipulation 17
- Fear and Loathing in Beijing 17
- Phase 1 20132016 Renewing Zeal for Propaganda Especially Online Propaganda with Trickle-Down Jumpstart to Foreign Social Media 20
- Phase 2 20172018 Early Experimentation for Foreign Social Media Manipulation 25
- Phase 3 20192023 Full Embrace of Foreign Social Media Manipulation 27
- Understanding the Chinese Militarys Approach to Cyber-Enabled Influence Operations and Social Media Manipulation 31
- Conclusion 36
- Chapter 3. An Overview of Li Bichengs Career and Research 37
- Lis Background and Career Progression 38
- Research Overview 40
- Lis Research Funding 42
- Understanding His Midcareer Move in 2016 44
- Conclusion 49
- Chapter 4. Li Bichengs Vision for Artificial IntelligenceDriven Online Influence Operations 50
- Lis View of Current Shortcomings in Chinese Social Media Manipulation 50
- Designing a Human Role in Lis AI Vision 51
- Lis Research Agenda Theorizing and Operationalizing Online Public Opinion Guidance 52
- The Solution 54
- How It Works 54
- Requirements 56
- Additional Details on Text Generation 60
- Some Details on Tailoring Content to Specific Users 63
- Testing 63
- Conclusion 66
- Chapter 5. Technical Evaluation of Li Bichengs Research and Potential Implications of Generative Artificial Intelligence 67
- Technical Evaluation of Lis Research 67
- Implications of Generative AI for Lis Research 70
- Li and Broader Chinese Party-State Will Be Able to Leverage Generative AI 74
- Generative AI is Already Improving Chinese Social Media Manipulation 81
- Conclusion 84
- Chapter 6. Additional Insights from Li Bichengs Research 86
- Heightened Threat Perception and Different Tit-for-Tat Framing 86
- Interest in U.S. Social Media Especially Its Role in U.S. Politics 91
- Evidence for Generating Disinformation and Manipulating Foreign Social Media 92
- The Importance of Data Especially Open-Source Data 95
- Assessed Shortcomings of Chinese IO 97
- Public Opinion Warfare as a Joint PLA Capability 102
- Making Military-Civil Fusion Work for Public Opinion Warfare 104
- Interest in Cognitive Science 109
- Conclusion 112
- Chapter 7. Putting Li Bichengs Research into Context 113
- Early Awareness 114
- Calls for Going on the Offensive 116
- Other Clear Explanations 121
- Lingering Fears 127
- Other Party-State Interest MFA 128
- Looking Forward to Generative AI-Driven Social Bots 130
- Conclusion 131
- Chapter 8. Findings and Recommendations 132
- Findings 133
- Recommendations 135
- Abbreviations 140
- References 141
