Here’s a seemingly significant, yet largely buried element within Google’s TAG Bulletin reports, which provides an overview of all of the coordinated influence operations that its team has detected and shut down over time.
As reported back in May, during Google’s Q1 TAG Bulletin, Google removed more than 31,000 YouTube channels linked to Chinese-based influence operations between July last year and March 2022, which, by far, is a huge amount that far outweighs any other element.
Titanic-Sized Takedowns
Today, Google has shared its Q2 Tag Bulletin, which, along with its various efforts to combat Russian-backed misinformation efforts about the Ukraine invasion. Also, details that it shut down another 7169 YouTube channels linked back to China within the last three months. To compare, Google removed a total of 231 YouTube channels connected to the conflict in Ukraine.
As Google explains:
“These channels mostly uploaded spammy content in Chinese about music, entertainment, and lifestyle. A very small subset uploaded content in Chinese and English about China and U.S. foreign affairs.
This is the explanation Google has provided for all of these removals. This statement has become somewhat of a template and vague summary of what’s going on with these channels, which is what again exactly?
There’s not a lot of detail provided, but it seems that the main purpose of these channels was to first build an audience in the app by posting light and engaging content that grabs viewers’ attention. These channels then eventually use their expanded reach to sprinkle a little bit of some pro-China spice to seed such among broader audiences. That then enables the CCP (and related groups) to potentially sway public opinion through subtle means, gently nudging viewers towards a more positive view of China’s activities.
The operation’s scale is significant – all-in-all, over the past year, Google has detected and taken action on more than 50,000 YouTube channels connected to this effort. That’s a lot and, looking at the data, the program seems to have ramped up significantly this year, which likely suggests that whoever is behind it sees YouTube as a powerful vector for influence.
The data further underlines the importance of social platforms taking proactive, definitive steps to stop such programs before they gain traction, while also pointing to how state-based actors are looking to utilize the scale of social networks to influence global opinion. Add this to the fact that the Chinese Government continues to clash with other world leaders on various fronts, and there’s clearly reason for some concern here.
The Wrap
With pro-China groups also looking to infiltrate YouTube at scale, there do seem to be some important trends emerging within the broader flow of online news and information. As of now, Google hasn’t released any official reports explaining the details of the matter, but they have cited this Twitter thread that houses discussions on a China-Linked group named DragonBridge that should help provide more context.
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