Republican calls out social media giants for not fighting Chinese propaganda

Scorecards released by House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Wednesday accused Twitter, Facebook and YouTube of not taking adequate steps to limit the spread of Chinese disinformation and propaganda.

The scorecards graded the three social media giants on whether they labeled state-sponsored media outlets on their sites, blocked Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials from having verified accounts, fact-checked posts and initiated comprehensive removal of CCP propaganda and disinformation.

Twitter received the lowest grade of the three companies, with McCaul giving the company a D- for not fulfilling any of the criteria beyond fact-checking and not making what the scorecard described as “meaningful policy changes.”

“Of all the companies we engaged with, Twitter is the platform most heavily abused by the CCP,” the scorecard read. “They are the most unwilling to do anything to stop the CCP from spreading harmful misinformation or provide transparency through labels that inform users they are viewing content from a state-funded or state-directed media outlet.”

YouTube received a C- for labeling state-backed outlets on top of fact-checking, while Facebook received the highest grade of C+, also fulfilling those two criteria. Both platforms were also described as not having done enough to take down posts or make changes to their policies.

Members of McCaul’s staff sent samples of CCP-linked posts to the companies and engaged with them in discussing potential changes they could make to address Chinese propaganda efforts.

McCaul also serves as chair of the China Task Force, which consists of more than a dozen House Republicans and is intended to develop legislation to fight back against Chinese foreign influence efforts. A Foreign Affairs Committee aide to McCaul told The Hill that the task force is expected to issue recommendations in October that could potentially address Chinese online propaganda efforts.

McCaul told The Hill in a statement that the CCP had “weaponized” social media platforms to “promote their propaganda.”