Thread by @philewing

I see all this commentary about China's public messaging and propagandizing, and without disputing the consequences of disinformation in general terms, question how actually effective it is based simply on its qualitative suckiness, tin-earedness and overall hamhandedness

It's one thing for a sophisticated foreign actor to shape the info environment by making it appear real Americans (who actually are fake) are saying things they aren't about internal U.S. matters with no reference to any foreign power. But all China does is talk about itself

Russia's efforts are disruptive and corrosive because it nihilistically puts its bugle into domestic disputes (about the NFL, for example) for the sake of simply turning up the volume. The resultant agita is a sufficient reward of its own, esp given the low cost

But are China's obviously self-serving disputations about its crimes against humanity and aggression and oppression and so forth moving the needle with anyone? They are so transparently propagandistic and, I dunno, pompous they're hard to take seriously