The Chinese have at their disposal a population of millions of social media drones. And, in the grand tradition of the Great Wall, China established a virtual wall to contain, monitor and control the netizens of China. Dubbed the Great Firewall, the system provides China with a centralized capability to monitor and control internet activity throughout China. While some feel that this Chinese Social Media Army will be unable to influence opinion effectively, stating that internet users and companies such as Digg, Youtube and others will revise their algorithms, the future is not so clear. China has effectively used technology, law, and cultural harmonization to create a society of internet users who not only engage in tactical social media campaigns, but actively monitor and report on each other.

In it’s Annual Report to Congress on China – “China Military Power of the People’s Republic of China[.pdf]“ – the Department of Defense provides significant detail on China’s evolving military strategy to include it’s increasing interest in non-kinetic means of warfare. A key excerpt is below:

In 2003, the CCP Central Committee and the CMC approved the concept of “Three Warfares” (san zhong zhanfa – 三种战法), a PLA information warfare concept aimed at influencing the psychological dimensions of military activity:

• Psychological Warfare seeks to undermine an enemy’s ability to conduct combat operations through psychological operations aimed at deterring, shocking, and demoralizing enemy military personnel and supporting civilian populations.
• Media Warfare is aimed at influencing domestic and international public opinion to build public and international support for China’s military actions and to dissuade an adversary from pursuing policies perceived to be adverse to China’s interests.
• Legal Warfare uses international and domestic laws to gain international support and manage possible political repercussions of China’s military actions.

American Truce Team with Chinese Communists

Without a doubt, the Chinese are now in a position to engage in strategic communication across the social media landscape. Their strategy, capabilities, interests and people are all aligned. The question now becomes “What do we do?” How do military and national security practitioners prepare?

That my friends is a question for another post. However, I’m excited to hear your thoughts and opinions. What tactics, techniques and procedures do we need to develop to deal with adversarial social media teams?