China has 1 million people behind propaganda machine to undermine US, top US admiral says

Originally published by American Military News

During a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Indo Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) commander Adm. Phillip Davidson said “China has a vast disinformation machine” with a million people behind it that it uses to undermine the U.S.

Responding to questions by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) about the threat Chinese disinformation presents in the Indo-Pacific region, Davidson said, “They use regular media and social media and have nearly a million people in their propaganda machine.”

Davidson said the goal of China’s disinformation efforts is “to undermine U.S. interests, to capture the narrative to their own benefit and to … corrupt the environment in a way that creates doubt amongst our allies and partners in the reliability of the United States.”