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China has ‘sophisticated influence apparatus’ but did not try to sway 2020 US election, American intelligence chief says

  • China has made advances in AI, big data analytics and deepfakes; its initiatives already detected in elections in Australia, Canada and Taiwan, says Avril Haines
  • Senator Mark Warner says TikTok poses risks, ‘with ownership based in a country assessed to conduct election influence campaigns’

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US director of national intelligence Avril Haines at the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
China did not try to influence the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election and the US has “no information to suggest” Beijing will play a “more active role” this year, a top US intelligence official told senators on Wednesday.
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Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, US director of national intelligence Avril Haines said that while China had a “sophisticated influence apparatus” to exploit new technologies such as generative AI, Beijing remained concerned about potential consequences “in the event their efforts are disclosed”.

Haines highlighted that China had made important advances in its “influence operation tools”, taking advantage of recent discoveries in areas such as big data analytics and the use of deepfake technologies to generate content.

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From India to China, how deepfakes are reshaping Asia politics

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She also pointed out that although there was no evidence of the use of these tools in the United States, intelligence agents had identified “increasing confidence” in China’s influence capabilities. Haines emphasised that Chinese initiatives of this kind had already been detected in elections in Australia, Canada and Taiwan.

“Beijing seeks to promote support for China’s policy positions and perspectives, including in the context of specific elections, by portraying the US democratic model as chaotic, ineffective, unrepresentative and magnifying US societal divisions,” Haines said.

The director also said intelligence agencies would continue to monitor Beijing’s activities and alert social media platforms if coordinated disinformation campaigns were detected. Additionally, they would collaborate with the FBI to attribute responsibility for such movements.

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Despite Haines’ statement, Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said Chinese “influence actors aggressively sought to shape the outcome of Taiwan’s election earlier this year, including promoting narratives the election had been rigged as election day approached”.

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