This is probably not an ideal discovery for TikTok’s team as they continue to defend against a proposed US ban.
This week, Google reported that it had detected an additional 10,000 instances of an ongoing China-based influence campaign it has dubbed “Dragon Bridge” in the first quarter of this year.
Dragonbridge is the most influential activity on the web, with Google previously reporting that it detected 50,000 instances of Dragonbridge activity across YouTube, Blogger and AdSense in 2022, and an additional 65,000 instances in 2023.
The Dragonbridge group basically creates profiles and advertisements and shares various low-quality news-related content. And between these unremarkable updates, occasionally, the initiative Post about current events with messages supporting pro-China views.
According to Google, Dragonbridge is targeting a variety of events this year, including: Taiwan electionsThe site also publishes commentary critical of the US, including on the war between Israel and Hamas. It is also engaged in activities that Google is monitoring, such as “spreading narratives that highlight political divisions in the US,” as the US presidential election approaches.
While Dragonbridge’s content is primarily targeted at Chinese speakers, the company is also working on updates in English and is also utilising AI-generated presenters to make its updates more engaging.
While Google is getting better at detecting these programs and removing them before they have a significant impact, this highlights ongoing efforts by China-based groups to influence public opinion in other countries and sow pro-China and, at times, anti-American sentiment.
As mentioned above, this is not an ideal discovery for TikTok, as while there is nothing in the Google memo that specifically suggests a connection between Dragonbridge and TikTok, the fact that Chinese influence operations remain very active suggests they may be targeting other platforms as well.
And since TikTok is a Chinese-owned platform, potentially giving Chinese operatives a broader connection to users in Western countries, it seems reasonable to assume that it could also be used for the exact same purposes.
Chinese entities would obviously have greater access to information about how TikTok works and greater ability to influence the system — in fact, many former Chinese Communist Party officials now work for TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, and the Chinese Communist Party also has a role in determining what users see in local versions of the app.
Again, there is no direct connection, but you can see how these two concerns intersect and could be a potential red flag for American authorities.
The security briefings provided to senators have not yet been made public, so more details may emerge as part of TikTok’s upcoming legal challenge to the proposed ban.
