Chinese state-linked accounts hyped DeepSeek AI launch ahead of US stock rout, Graphika says
Chinese state-linked social media accounts amplified narratives celebrating the launch of Chinese startup DeepSeek's AI models last week, days before the news tanked U.S. tech stocks, according to online analysis firm Graphika.
The accounts involved in the effort, including those of Chinese diplomats, embassies and state media, amplified media coverage of the launch and promoted the idea that DeepSeek challenged U.S. dominance in the AI sector, New York-based Graphika said in a report it provided to Reuters on Thursday.
The messaging was rolled out on platforms such as Elon Musk's X and Meta Platforms' Facebook and Instagram, as well as Chinese services Toutiao and Weibo, Graphika said.
"This activity shows how China is able to quickly mobilize a range of actors that seed and amplify online narratives casting Beijing as surpassing the U.S. in critical areas of geopolitical competition, including the race to develop and deploy the most advanced AI technologies," Graphika Chief Intelligence Officer Jack Stubbs told Reuters.
"We've consistently seen overt and covert Chinese state-linked actors among the first movers in leveraging AI to scale their operations in the information environment."
Graphika said it also found a video featuring pro-China, anti-Western content on a YouTube channel whose activity resembled that of Shadow Play, a coordinated influence campaign involving at least 30 YouTube channels that was first identified by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in 2023.
YouTube owner Alphabet, Meta, X and the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.
Graphika said it found a small spike in discussion about DeepSeek's advancements in relation to OpenAI's