Amid the ongoing debate about whether TikTok will be allowed to remain the U.S., and what the actual concerns are about the app, these notes from Google’s latest enforcement update seem relevant.
In its latest TAG Bulletin, which outlines all of its detection and enforcement of influence activity across its platforms, Google reports that in the first three months of this year, it’s terminated 15,876 YouTube channels as part its ongoing investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to China.
As per Google:
“The coordinated inauthentic network uploaded content in Chinese and English about China and U.S. foreign affairs.”
Which is not actually a huge surprise.
For years now, Google has been tackling Chinese influence operations that focus on creating news channels and blogs, which seek to appear legit, covering the latest topics. But then, in among these inconspicuous updates, these channels will also amplify pro-China messaging, with a view to shifting viewer opinions to align with these perspectives.
In 2022, Google removed more than 50,000 China-based YouTube channels for this reason, and another 65,000 channels in 2023.
So really, 15k channels in three months is on-par with what Google’s seen in previous years, but it underlines the fact that China-based operatives are indeed trying to use Western digital channels to influence public opinion, as part of an expanded propaganda effort.
And with that in mind, it would make sense, then, that TikTok would also be a focus for the same.
TikTok has huge reach in Western nations, while it also originates from China, giving Chinese operatives, you would assume, more access to, and understanding of its systems for the same purpose.
To be clear, there’s been nothing reported which suggests that TikTok has been used in this way. But given that these groups target every Western social media app (Meta has reported tackling the same group), with large scale programs of this type, it seems logical to assume that TikTok is likely subject to the same.
TikTok hasn’t reported such in its own threat reports, but I think it’s safe to assume that this would have been an element that was highlighted to U.S. senators in the top secret security briefings they attended in the lead-up to voting in the TikTok sell-off bill.
For context, China isn’t the only source of such activity detected and removed by Google in Q1. It also removed 4282 YouTube channels linked to similar initiatives originating from Russia, and 2891 YouTube channels linked to the same in Azerbaijan.
This also seems like a concern:
“We blocked 21 domains from eligibility to appear on Google News surfaces and Discover as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to a U.S.-based consulting firm. The campaign was sharing content in English about local issues in different regions of the US as well as content related to international business.”
A U.S. consulting firm initiating coordinated information campaigns sounds very Cambridge Analytica-like, and it’ll be interesting to see what emerges from this ongoing investigation.
But China remains by far the top source of such activity, with ongoing initiatives that seek to sway Western user opinions via social media-based influence efforts.
When you highlight concerns about TikTok, many people counter with the fact that Meta is also tracking user data in the same way, so it shouldn’t be singled out. But it’s not about that. The push against TikTok is more about its capacity to influence than systematic data gathering.
