China's state media is deploying artificial intelligence and social media platforms to craft and distribute messaging that challenges Western narratives and portrays the United States as a global aggressor—a strategic shift that reflects intensifying competition over information control in an increasingly digital world.
The strategy marks a dramatic departure from China's historically rigid state messaging. Recent AI-generated animations released by state broadcasters have gone viral globally, reaching millions of viewers with sophisticated visual narratives that frame U.S. foreign policy as imperialism. In one five-minute AI animation modeled after classic martial arts movies, China's state media framed an allegory for the war in Iran, depicting a white eagle in regal attire representing the U.S. unleashing an evil laugh before attacking a group of Persian cats draped in black cloaks standing in for Iranians.
The animation, released by state broadcaster China Central Television on social media about 5 days ago, went viral at home and drew rave reviews from its Chinese audience for translating complex geopolitical conflict into accessible entertainment. It reached the English-language world after an X user subtitled and posted the clip online, drawing more than 1 million views in only a few days.
This represents part of a broader pattern. About 2 months ago, the official Xinhua News Agency released an AI-generated music video lampooning the U.S. threat to take over Greenland, featuring a bald eagle character in military uniform singing, "Anything I want, I'll get it. One way or another, I'll get it." About 1 month ago, after Trump convened the "Shield of the Americas" summit, Xinhua posted a short video depicting a bald eagle caging small birds in the name of security, with the suited eagle telling caged birds, "Sometimes, security comes with a little control."
The Information Competition Intensifies
U.S. State Department cables have warned 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 Trump administration has vowed to counter foreign anti-American messaging and push back on worldviews against America's interests.
Shi Anbin, professor and director of Israel Epstein Center for Global Media and Communications at Tsinghua University, explained the strategic significance of this approach. AI-generated "infotainment" spread via social media is likely to be more effective in persuading younger audiences worldwide to accept Chinese viewpoints and is becoming routine in the country's messaging. "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," Shi said.
Andrew Chubb, a senior lecturer in the School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University whose studies include political propaganda, observed that the format itself obscures its propagandistic intent. "It's hardly even like propaganda — it almost seems more just a historical fiction dramatization of the situation," Chubb said.
From State Slogans to Digital Entertainment
China's messaging strategy has undergone significant transformation. The article noted that China's messaging was once dull, with party newspapers carrying slogan-filled, hollow-sounding speeches lauding the country's merits while denouncing Western influence. Students and junior officials complained of the dry study materials they were required to learn to pass exams on party history and ideology.
As young people turned away from stiff party language, Beijing began to change fundamentally. It no longer frowns upon impish web language but embraces it to retell party history and has turned to rap music to extol the party's feats. The government now recruits pop singers and actors to star in patriotic films, counting on their popular appeal rather than orders or free tickets to draw young people to movie theaters. Even anti-corruption television series have become hits with intriguing plots, punchy lines and superb acting.
Wang Zichen, deputy secretary-general for the Beijing-based think tank Center for China & Globalization, said state media are experimenting with nontraditional formats, including short-form, digitally native content using AI. "Whatever one thinks about the format, the message itself clearly resonates with increasingly larger audiences, which helps explain why such content gains traction online," Wang said.
Building a Global Information Matrix
China has directed substantial resources into promoting narratives that target a global audience. The party has built a massive "matrix" of social media accounts—managed by diplomats, state media, influencers and even bots—on various platforms, including X and Facebook. This coordinated effort reflects Chinese President Xi Jinping's years-long push to boost the country's abilities to spread its messages globally, gain a greater say on world affairs, and counter Western narratives that Beijing often sees as biased or derogatory about China.
Pro-Iran groups have similarly used sleek, AI-generated memes to taunt the U.S. and Trump, suggesting that this information strategy extends beyond Chinese state actors alone. The development represents part of what State Department officials characterize as an intensifying global information war.
Why This Matters:
The shift toward AI-enabled state messaging raises fundamental questions about information control, democratic discourse, and the power asymmetries in global digital spaces. When state actors deploy sophisticated AI tools to shape narratives reaching millions of younger viewers globally, the ability of citizens in democratic societies to access diverse, independent information becomes compromised. The effectiveness of these campaigns—measured by viral reach and audience engagement—suggests that entertainment-formatted political messaging may bypass critical evaluation in ways traditional propaganda does not. The lack of transparent attribution and the use of social media platforms designed for rapid, algorithmic amplification create conditions where state narratives spread with minimal accountability. Meanwhile, the U.S. government's acknowledgment that such campaigns pose a "direct threat to national security" indicates the strategic stakes involved. The competition over information control reflects broader questions about whether democratic institutions can maintain legitimacy and public trust when state actors can deploy unlimited resources and AI capabilities to craft persuasive counter-narratives without transparent labeling or regulatory oversight.