Top intel agency says China used TikTok to influence U.S. elections (www.axios.com)

submitted 8 months ago by Rapidcreek@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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[-] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Headline doesn't match what's in the article

This year's report said: "TikTok accounts run by a [Chinese] propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022."

...

It warned that China's government may "attempt to influence the U.S. elections in 2024 at some level because of its desire to sideline critics of China and magnify U.S. societal divisions."

e; italicization added

[-] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Are you objecting the lack of the word "reportedly" in OPs headline because it seems accurate to me otherwise?

[-] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

The report says (I'm paraphrasing), "There have been claims China has used TikTok to influence elections. We conclude that's possible." It doesn't say they did do it, it says they could do it, but the headline says they did do it.

[-] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

No need to paraphrase, here's the quote.

China is demonstrating a higher degree of sophistication in its influence activity, including experimenting with generative AI. TikTok accounts run by a PRC propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022.

This clearly says that United States intelligence has reports that TikTok accounts run by the Chinese government were used to attempt to influence 2022 elections in the USA. Is that not what the headline says?

Use of the word "Reportedly", in the context of this threat assessment, means that the agency has evaluated the reports, and while they have not confirmed them, they could not be dismissed either and were found them compelling enough to be included in the assessment. They are not suggesting here that some guy on the internet made the claim and there's no other support for it.

this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024

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