SCMP | In
October, the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence noted in the
first line of its report on Russia’s use of social media to meddle in
the 2016 US presidential election, that “information warfare [is]
designed to spread disinformation and societal division”. Zhao’s tweets
accomplished both. The disinformation was obvious. Critical thinking in
abeyance, plenty of people will believe a claim that the US Army
planted Covid-19 in Wuhan; even more will want it to be true.
When
US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others
began fighting back by loudly and repeatedly calling Covid-19 “the
Chinese virus”, social division in the US grew, if that is possible. The
media accused Trump of being racist and xenophobic, and inciting more
of the same towards Chinese-Americans. This only caused Trump to say it
louder and more often.
One
wonders how much longer Washington will continue fighting the
information war against Beijing with one arm tied behind its back.
Chinese media enjoy free run of the US, including on Twitter. The US has
no such freedom in China.
Not
a few pundits in these past few weeks have predicted Covid-19 will end
globalisation, or even “life as we know it”. That seems unlikely, given
the short-term nature of people’s memories and how profitable “life as
we know it” has been for so many. But given the mischief Zhao’s tweets
caused, Beijing’s days on Twitter might be numbered.
