China’s Communist government is leveraging social media and artificial intelligence to disseminate its narrative and frequently to mock the United States and its president. This state-directed effort to shape global consciousness follows the government's extensive domestic censorship, demonstrating how state apparatuses adapt to control information flows and advance national capital interests on the world stage.
In recent months, China’s state media has produced several AI-generated animations. One five-minute animation, modeled after classic martial arts movies, presented an allegory for the war in Iran. It depicted a white eagle, representing the U.S., attacking a group of Persian cats, symbolizing Iranians, who vow to fight after losing their leader and a crucial trading route. This content serves to frame the U.S. as a global bully, a consistent theme in these state-produced messages.
Other AI-generated animations have lampooned President Donald Trump’s threat to take over Greenland and his plan to exert U.S. predominance in the Western Hemisphere. These productions are part of a broader push by Chinese President Xi Jinping to boost the country’s ability to spread its messages globally, secure a greater say in world affairs, and counter Western narratives that Beijing perceives as biased or derogatory.
The State's Propaganda Machine
This shift towards AI-generated "infotainment" is becoming routine in China’s state messaging. Shi Anbin, professor and director of Israel Epstein Center for Global Media and Communications at Tsinghua University, stated, "It is a new way for Chinese mainstream media to engage global Gen Z audience and social media users to understand Chinese standpoint and viewpoint of international affairs." The Iran war animation, released by state broadcaster China Central Television on social media, garnered significant domestic attention and, after being subtitled by an X user, reached over 1 million views in the English-speaking world within days.
Andrew Chubb, a senior lecturer in the School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University, whose studies include political propaganda, observed that the content "almost seems more just a historical fiction dramatization of the situation." This highlights the sophisticated nature of modern state propaganda, designed to appear less like overt messaging and more like entertainment.
Inter-Imperialist Information Warfare
The U.S. State Department has acknowledged this intensifying global information war, warning that foreign messaging campaigns, carried on digital platforms by foreign state-controlled media, "pose a direct threat to U.S. national security and fuel hostility toward American interests." The U.S. has vowed to "up its game" to counter what it terms anti-American messaging and push back on worldviews that challenge America’s interests, indicating a reciprocal escalation in ideological conflict between competing state-capitalist powers.
China’s messaging strategy has evolved from "dull, slogan-filled, hollow-sounding speeches" to embracing "impish web language" and digitally native content. This includes using rap music to extol party feats and recruiting pop singers and actors for patriotic films, relying on popular appeal rather than coercion. Wang Zichen, deputy secretary-general for the Beijing-based think tank Center for China & Globalization, noted that state media are experimenting with nontraditional formats, stating, "Whatever one thinks about the format, the message itself clearly resonates with increasingly larger audiences, which helps explain why such content gains traction online."
China has directed significant capital into promoting its narrative globally, constructing a "massive matrix" of social media accounts managed by diplomats, state media, influencers, and bots across platforms like X and Facebook. This extensive apparatus demonstrates the state's commitment to shaping global perceptions in service of its national capital interests.