U.S. politicians are condemning adversarial nations such as China and Russia for allegedly deploying online disinformation campaigns to incite hatred and violence in the aftermath of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
During a joint press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel on Sept. 11, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox warned that foreign adversaries are exploiting Kirk's assassination to deepen U.S. divisions via bots and state-aligned social media accounts.
"There is a tremendous amount of disinformation... Our adversaries want violence. We have bots from Russia, China, all over the world that are trying to instill disinformation and encourage violence," Cox said.
He urged the public to "ignore those [streams]" and focus on family amid the chaos.
Meanwhile, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on X that "foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors" in the United States.
"I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of [Kirk's assassination], and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action," he said.
Disinformation Campaigns
China has faced ongoing accusations of leveraging disinformation campaigns to exacerbate U.S. social divisions, heighten political polarization, and undermine trust in the U.S. government.For example, during the U.S. election, Chinese actors mimicked Russian-style operations by creating fake news sites and social media personas to stoke debates on issues like immigration and abortion, framing them as evidence of the "irreconcilable divisions" in the United States.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese regime accused the United States of unfairly blaming Chinese Americans for the virus. On Weibo and Twitter, Chinese campaigns shared stories about U.S. "racism," mixing real events with overblown claims to make America look divided and unstable.
After George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis in 2020, Chinese disinformation campaigns flooded social media with content exaggerating U.S. racial tensions, while downplaying peaceful protests.
China’s state media published op-eds claiming "systemic racism" proves American “hypocrisy” on human rights. This effort reached millions, with reports estimating over 150,000 Chinese-state-linked accounts removed by Twitter for anti-U.S. propaganda.