In a report released on Monday, it was revealed that the Chinese government has escalated its endeavors to exert influence on American politics during the 2022 election.
Intelligence officials are now diligently investigating whether Beijing is planning to amplify these activities in the upcoming presidential election of next year.
China Tried to Influence 2022 US Midterm Elections
In 2022, American intelligence agencies reportedly did not witness any foreign leader actively orchestrating an interference campaign against the United States, unlike the situation in 2016 when Russia was accused of such actions. According to the report, the US government has discovered that several countries are involved in various forms of influence operations.
In a joint analytic assessment by intelligence agencies, it has been reported that Chinese authorities have tacitly approved operations aimed at influencing a few political races in the United States in 2022.
According to a declassified intelligence community report on foreign threats to the 2022 midterm elections, a recent intelligence assessment has revealed that China has allegedly given tacit approval to attempts aimed at influencing a select few midterm races involving members from both US political parties.
The report suggests that China's motive behind these efforts is to counter candidates perceived as "anti-China" while supporting those considered to be "pro-China." According to the report, Beijing perceives its information operations in the US as a reaction to what they perceive as an increased effort by the US to advance democracy, which they believe comes at the expense of China.
According to a report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Chinese senior leaders have been issuing orders since 2020 to ramp up efforts in influencing US policy and public opinion in favor of China. The directives provided greater freedom for influence actors from the People's Republic of China (PRC) to operate before the midterms compared to the presidential election in 2020.
This is likely because PRC officials believed that Beijing would face less scrutiny during the midterms and anticipated less severe retaliation from the current Administration than they feared in 2020. The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC has yet to provide a response to a request for comment made on Monday night.
Several governments, including China, Russia, and Iran, made efforts to influence the 2022 midterm elections. However, there is no indication that these foreign adversaries engaged in cyberattacks with the intention of accessing or tampering with the United States' election infrastructure or ballot counting.
There is currently no evidence of a coordinated attempt to breach US election networks since the year 2016. During that time, it is believed that Russia conducted surveillance on election networks across all states in the US and gained access to election-related infrastructure in at least two states, as per NBC News.
Foreign Influences to US Elections
The approach mentioned offers deniability, allowing foreign actors to disseminate US content in an attempt to exploit pre-existing divisions. Russia made attempts to influence the election in a different manner compared to China. Their objective was to undermine the Democratic Party and weaken political backing for Ukraine.
The Russian Government and its proxies aimed to discredit the Democratic Party and erode trust in the election process prior to the midterm elections. The primary objective behind these actions was likely to weaken US support for Ukraine. The report further states that the intelligence community holds a high level of confidence in this assessment.
Extensive research and analysis of US audiences were conducted by elements of the Kremlin and its intelligence services. The purpose of this research was to inform their election-related efforts, which involved identifying target demographics and determining the narratives and platforms that they believed would resonate with these audiences.
Meanwhile, Iran's influence activities during this election cycle were primarily aimed at exploiting perceived social divisions and eroding confidence in US democratic institutions. The intelligence community has expressed a moderate level of confidence in this assessment.
Tehran's actions during the midterms were likely influenced by resource limitations due to various priorities and the necessity to handle internal unrest. The level of foreign activity surpassed that of the 2018 midterm elections, although it did not reach the typical level observed during a presidential election year.
Per NY Times, the influence operations consisted of utilizing social media accounts and proxy websites in a covert manner. Additionally, payments were made to influencers and public relations firms were employed in the process.
