This is not some fringe theory. This is in the august pages of the New York Times. Its lead sentence pretty much says it all: “Covert Chinese accounts are masquerading online as American supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, promoting conspiracy theories, stoking domestic divisions and attacking President Biden ahead of the election in November…”
The Chinese tricksters are exploiting the big social media platforms such as X and Meta. Big Tech obviously has allowed these platforms to devolve into open sewers that can be manipulated by America’s adversaries. The story barely mentions TikTok, which is another avenue of Chinese influence because 170 million Americans use TikTok. Increasingly, they are consuming news on TikTok that is obviously subject to Chinese manipulation.
We can see all this happening before our very eyes. Can we summon the will to address the problem?
