Beijing and Moscow are financing social media campaigns against the United States, according to media experts and insiders.
JOHANNESBURG—Chinese and Russian agents are paying social media influencers in Africa to spread anti-U.S. messages worldwide, with the Trump administration being a top target, media experts say.
Their research reveals that many influencers who use the TikTok platform are earning hundreds to thousands of dollars per month by disseminating misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda that benefits Beijing and Moscow.
The studies align with information presented to Congress on July 22 by U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. military in Africa.
Analysts say China, Russia, and other malign actors are taking advantage of an information void created by the White House’s decision to cut financial aid to Africa, which has impacted the funding of media previously supported by the U.S. government.
In 2024, the Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies documented nearly 200 pro-Kremlin and pro-China social media campaigns in each major region of Africa, with the Chinese regime’s influencers particularly active in Southern and West Africa.
One of Africa’s most popular social media figures has told The Epoch Times she’s receiving money to distribute information that makes Russia and China “happy.”
“This is mostly messages about Trump,” she said, asking that her name be withheld so that she didn’t “anger” her employers and lose income.
She said influencers working for Moscow and Beijing receive payments online via sites that facilitate paid promotions, with South Africa’s Lit marketplace one of the more popular systems.
“The money we’re making like this can be a few thousand dollars every month; it all depends on how popular our posts turn out,” she said.
The influencer said she’d never spoken to her benefactors.
“I can’t tell you if they’re Chinese or Russian or even from Mars. They send me data, and I work it up into segments, and then I post it. If they like what I post, they pay me,” she explained.
“It’s not difficult work because their sentiments fall in with the pan-African philosophy that I have, and I am also a strong supporter of socialism and an opponent of Western imperialism.
