China Intensifies Global Information Influence Efforts in 2025 Through AI, Influencer Programs, and Repression

Beijing's Expanding Global Narrative Strategy

In 2025, China notably intensified its efforts to shape global perceptions, deploying a sophisticated array of tactics that included advanced artificial intelligence, state-backed influencer exchange programs, and expanded cyberattacks and transnational repression. These operations aimed to advance Chinese Communist Party (CCP) narratives and effectively silence critics on the international stage.

Reports indicate that Beijing's foreign information influence operations became more sophisticated and insidious throughout the year, leveraging emerging technologies and global platforms.

AI Integration in Influence Operations and Cyberattacks

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly permeated China's foreign influence toolkit in 2025. China-linked actors utilized generative AI for various purposes, including content production, data collection, and drafting internal reports for the party-state. This integration allowed for the creation of fake news websites, false personas, and deepfakes, enhancing the authenticity and scale of disinformation campaigns.

Concerns were raised regarding China-developed large language models (LLMs), such as DeepSeek, which gained significant attention in January 2025. Research revealed embedded Beijing-aligned censorship and proactive sabotage on topics sensitive to the CCP, including human rights and politics, within these foundational AI tools.

Concurrently, cyberattacks linked to Chinese operators saw a significant surge. Suspected Chinese operators exploited AI agents for cyber espionage, targeting approximately 30 global entities, including tech firms, financial institutions, and government agencies. A major Chinese-linked hacking threat, dubbed 'Salt Typhoon,' reportedly compromised at least 200 American companies and targeted telecommunications networks and critical infrastructure across more than 80 countries. The 2025 CrowdStrike Global Threat Report highlighted a 150% increase in China's state-sponsored cyber espionage operations, with targeted attacks in financial services, media, manufacturing, and industrial sectors rising by up to 300%.

Influencer Exchange Programs to 'Tell China's Story Well'

Chinese officials intensified efforts to invite young people with large social media followings to China, expanding a long-used strategy to shape global perceptions by using foreigners to 'tell China's story well'. A key initiative was the newly launched China-Global Youth Influencer Exchange Program, a state-backed program offering all-expenses-paid trips to prominent influencers from around the world.

The program, announced in June, set criteria for participants, including being under 35 years old and having at least 300,000 followers on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Influencers were expected to collaborate with Chinese creators and showcase a curated view of modern China. Notable participants included livestreamer Darren Watkins ('IShowSpeed'), who traveled to China in March and April, and Senegalese-Italian TikTok star Khaby Lame, who toured Chinese cities in September. These visits were widely promoted by state-run media, such as China Daily.

Escalation of Transnational Repression

Beijing's foreign information influence operations in 2025 also leveraged transnational repression tactics to advance CCP narratives and silence critics. China continued to be identified as the most prolific perpetrator of transnational repression globally, employing methods such as harassment, digital threats, abduction, forced repatriation, and targeting family members of dissidents abroad.

An international investigation, 'China Targets,' revealed how Beijing exploited global institutions, including Interpol and the United Nations, to surveil and intimidate human rights advocates, particularly those speaking out about abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet. The United Front Work Department (UFWD), a key influence and intelligence arm of the CCP, saw its capabilities significantly increased under Xi Jinping, operating both within China and abroad to co-opt and mobilize non-party elites.