A US State Department report that accuses the Chinese government of expanding disinformation efforts is “in itself disinformation,” Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed Saturday.

The ministry shot back after the State Department issued a striking report this week in which it accused the Chinese government of expanding efforts to control information and to disseminate propaganda and disinformation that promotes “digital authoritarianism” in China and around the world.

The US report, issued by the Global Engagement Center on Thursday, alleged that China spends billions of dollars a year on foreign information manipulation and warned that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had “significantly expanded” efforts to “shape the global information environment.”

It also underlined US concerns about China as a main military competitor and key rival in the battle over ideas and global disinformation.

  • Affidavit
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    1 year ago

    disinformation has no domestic impact

    Ow, my head.

    A significant contributor to the deadliest man-made disaster in the history of mankind was domestic disinformation in China.

    Edit: I misread the comment and didn’t see the preceding word ‘foreign’. In hindsight my original comment doesn’t make sense given this context. I don’t agree with OP’s comment though. They seem to rely on the idea that, ‘China is special and unique (unlike you troglodytes)’, as an explanation for how the government behaves in international politics.

    I think a different poster explained the CCP’s sophisticated methodology better: “no u”.

    • galmuth@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      They were clearly referring to online foreign disinformation, not domestic disinformation.

      • Affidavit
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, my bad. It’s clear I got stuck on that one point.

      • zephyreks@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Precisely. Everyone has domestic disinformation, but it’s a domestic issue.

    • zephyreks@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      That has no relation to the issue of foreign disinformation. Whataboutism, much?