How China Ramped Up Disinformation Efforts During the Pandemic

Although China once shied away from the aggressive, conspiratorial type of disinformation favored by Russia, it has increasingly turned to this approach during the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing is both manipulating factual information and spreading disinformation—or willfully false information—to distract from the origins of the virus, highlight the failures of the United States, and promote China as a global leader.

Has Beijing used disinformation before?

China has long utilized information and disinformation domestically and in regions close to the People’s Republic, such as Taiwan. In recent years, Beijing has expanded its activities globally, increasingly taking from the Russian playbook of stoking division in other countries, sowing public doubt about expertise, and spreading rumors.

Since the pandemic emerged, Beijing has relied even more on wielding information operations abroad. A study produced by the U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which tracks disinformation and propaganda, found that China, Iran, and Russia are increasingly converging on disinformation narratives about the United States and the pandemic.