China's Foreign Influence Operations 2025: Sophisticated AI and the Western Vacuum

While the world's leaders shook hands, the digital fist remained tightly clenched. In 2025, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s foreign information influence operations grew more insidious, leveraging emerging technologies and global platforms to advance its narratives. Amid reduced Western countermeasures, particularly following sharp U.S. funding cuts, the playing field appears increasingly tilted in Beijing's favor.

China's Foreign Influence Operations 2025: The Rise of AI

Generative AI has permeated China's toolkit in 2025. Reports from OpenAI and Meta highlighted the use of AI for both content production and operational tasks like data collection. Last month, Anthropic disclosed that Chinese operators exploited its AI agent, Claude, to automate cyber espionage targeting 30 global entities. Furthermore, the Chinese-developed LLM DeepSeek saw its monthly active users exceed 125 million by May, raising alarms over its embedded censorship on CCP-sensitive topics.

Courting Influencers and Expanding Platform Footprints

To capture younger audiences, Beijing launched the China-Global Youth Influencer Exchange Program. Targeting influencers under 35 with over 300,000 followers, the program sponsored trips for stars like Khaby Lame and IShowSpeed. Simultaneously, TikTok reached 1.5 billion monthly users, while other apps like Kwai and Opera News expanded their reach in Africa and Latin America, creating new avenues for content manipulation.

The Impact of U.S. Funding Retreat

Global resilience against these campaigns weakened as U.S. funding for tracking foreign influence was gutted. The expiration of the Global Engagement Center (GEC) mandate and cuts to Radio Free Asia have reversed years of progress. This retraction has devastated the ecosystem of independent research and investigative reporting vital for protecting free expression from CCP propaganda.