Dangerous Synergies between Russia and China Concerning Covert Digital Influence Operations

This study should be of grave concern to Western democracies! I suspect, the recent riots, mob violence, and Antifa operations in the U.S. were also influenced by Russia and China and/or other authoritarian states.



"Their digital influence campaigns work in tandem and toward the following objectives:

1. Undermine liberal democratic norms and institutions.
2. Weaken cohesion among democratic allies and partners.
3. Reduce U.S. global influence.
4. Advance Russian and Chinese positions.

"



Dangerous Synergies | Center for a New American Security





Here is what the Heritage Foundation had to say about this report:

"Deep Dive: Russia & China's propaganda synergy

What's new: A new report from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) says, "Although there is no concrete evidence to suggest that Beijing and Moscow explicitly coordinate their information operations, the two countries are increasingly finding common cause as their interests align on a number of issues and in strategic regions."



Why this matters: Influence operations by Moscow and Beijing complement one another by undermining democratic forms of governance and by promoting techno-totalitarianism as a viable alternative. 



Go deeper: According to the report, "Democracies worldwide are likely to see growing synergy between the two authoritarian powers in the information environment. In fact, digital influence efforts by China and Russia have already proved mutually reinforcing by:



"Magnifying impact through complementary approaches. Although China’s and Russia’s approaches are different and seemingly uncoordinated, taken together, they have a more corrosive effect on democracy than either would have single-handedly.

"Amplifying narratives. There are a growing number of instances in which Chinese and Russian narratives overlap, amplifying the impact of such messages.

"Legitimizing norm change. In multilateral forums, China and Russia are jointly chipping away at norms and standards governing the free flow of information.

But that's not all: The report says this cooperation is likely to grow and to produce an even more potent threat. This evolution will likely include the following trends:



"Deepen coordination. China and Russia already conduct a number of exchanges designed to share technologies and processes to control the internet. Beijing and Moscow could leverage their comparative strengths to pollute the global information environment while setting forth alternative platforms by which information can be disseminated.

"Divide and conquer. While Russian efforts remain most intensely focused on weakening and dividing democratic societies in Europe and the United States, China is spreading the tentacles of its online influence campaigns in strategically positioned developing countries across Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

"Leverage each other’s platforms to broaden reach. The proliferation of popular Chinese-designed and -marketed social media apps has the potential to create entirely alternative information ecosystems that China and Russia could jointly leverage.

"Jointly harness technological change. China and Russia are increasingly well positioned to pilot “viral” apps to collect, analyze, and generate data on users in democracies.

In light of this, the report offers a number of recommendations, including the following:



Bolster Resilience to Digital Campaigns



"Fund targeted open source research. To address a critical knowledge gap, the National Science Foundation should ramp up funding for rigorous social science analysis of how online interference by China and Russia shapes the perceptions of citizens in democracies.

"Expand digital literacy education to adults. The U.S. Department of Education should partner with a leading information technology company to design a digital citizenship course for American adults, with participation incentivized through small tax rebates.

"Regulate the social media landscape. For example, Congress should enact legislation mandating that social media companies label content disseminated by state-sponsored actors.

Expand Coordination among Democracies



"Red team China-Russia synergies. This would involve convening officials and technologists from the United States, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia to explore future digital influence coordination between the world’s two leading authoritarian powers.

"Stress-test existing coordination structures. The Group of Seven’s (G7) Rapid Response Mechanism should conduct an intelligence sharing exercise to identify bottlenecks for disseminating classified information regarding Chinese and Russian influence campaigns.

"Leverage the Community of Democracies (CoD). To enable developing countries to combat authoritarian digital interference, the United States should propose a new coordination mechanism within the CoD, which has a more diverse membership than the G7.

"Act in concert within international organizations. The United States should work with its democratic allies and partners to advance an agenda in multilateral forums that delegitimizes online influence campaigns by China and Russia and mitigates their potential impact.

Construct and Sustain Healthy Information Ecosystems



"Support independent diaspora media. One step could include a partnership between the State Department and a highly credible nongovernmental organization to award grants to Chinese- and Russian-language reporters and media entrepreneurs.

"Subsidize fact-based content in regions where affordability matters most. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation should extend loans and other supports to American media companies looking to grow their presence in developing markets.

"Catalyze innovative technological solutions. This could begin with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) organizing a “Democratic Integrity Hackathon” to develop products to protect social media platforms against Chinese and Russian digital influence campaigns.

Finally, Enhance Efforts to Deter China and Russia



"Develop a menu for cost imposition. The United States and its democratic allies and partners should develop a robust set of options to impose costs on China and Russia, with the aim of deterring the most egregious forms of digital influence campaigns. These options should range from demonstrating the ability to hold at risk the personal data of authoritarian elites to injecting fact-based information that exposes regime corruption into the online ecosystems of China or Russia.

"Establish a declaratory policy. The United States should quietly convey to China and Russia that it is willing and able to impose costs, particularly with respect to online interference that touches on election integrity.

My thought bubble: The report's central assessment is dead-on: Russia and China have complementary influence objectives and there's every reason to believe this synergy will be more effectively leveraged by both nations going forward.



Having said that, we're not going to spend or regulate our way out of this mess. Instead, the single best thing the United States can do is to govern itself in such a way that its security, prosperity, and human thriving decisively undermine foreign influence efforts as not credible. The goal in every counter-influence campaign is not to "snuff out" the opposition (that's almost always impossible); but, it is instead to move the opposition's narrative to the periphery of public thought by making it unrepresentative of reality and popular sentiment.



Finally, the US must also use the full suite of national power to change the calculus of foreign governments so that they no longer understand the benefits of political interference to be worth the costs of US reprisals."