Young Researcher Workshop: China's Covert Influence Operations on X/Twitter

China's Covert Influence Operations on X/Twitter

Speaker: Tongtong Zhang, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Stanford Internet Observatory

This research investigates two types of inter-related covert influence operations by the Chinese regime. First, we study how the regime employs Internet commentators located inside China to promote pro-CCP messages on X/Twitter, as well as how this network has evolved, using three waves of take-down data published by X/Twitter in 2019, 2020, and 2022. Second, we study how the Chinese regime organized pornographic attacks against prominent Chinese dissidents and mainstream media in the West on X/Twitter in late 2023.
 

About the Workshops

The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.