PAKISTAN AND CHINA DEEPEN MEDIA COOPERATION TO COUNTER DISINFORMATION, AND RUSSIA EXPANDS GLOBAL PROPAGANDA THROUGH MULTILINGUAL BROADCASTS AND JOURNALIST TRAINING

July 10-16, 2025 | Issue 26 - Counter Threat Strategic Communications Team

Camilla Raffaelli, Sophia Schultz, Jackie Heier, Meaghan Mackey, Leon Kille, Jennifer Radlinsky

Clémence Van Damme, Editor; James Raggio, Senior Editor

TV Broadcast Sign “On Air”^[1]

Date: July 10, 2025

Location: Beijing, China

Parties involved: China; Chinese government; Chinese government-controlled media agencies; Chinese government-controlled television broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV); Pakistan; Pakistan Television (PTV); Pakistan’s national cybersecurity agencies; National Cyber Emergency Response Team of Pakistan (PKCERT); Pakistani society; Pakistani citizens; local media; Islamist militant organisation The Resistance Front (TRF); India

The event: Pakistan and China have agreed to deepen media cooperation through joint broadcasting, technical training, content exchange, and influencer collaboration to counter disinformation and strengthen bilateral ties.^[2]

Analysis & Implications:

• China will likely exploit the shared infrastructure proposed in the agreement for data collection purposes, likely using non-invasive interference approaches to avoid jeopardizing their economic partnership with Pakistan. Chinese government-controlled media companies such as CCTV will likely exploit shared data, like cloud access and media consumption, to enhance their targeted information operations. Pakistan’s national cybersecurity agencies, such as the PKCERT, will unlikely find the political will to create safeguards against this threat, likely in fear of losing access to China’s foreign investments and advanced technology. There is a roughly even chance that Pakistan’s fragmented cybersecurity infrastructure will not be able to counter soft espionage by Chinese media companies, likely contributing to the undisturbed proliferation of pro-Chinese sentiment throughout the country.

• China’s state media partnership with Pakistan will almost certainly enable Beijing to reshape the local information ecosystems in ways that entrench its strategic narratives. China will very likely build long-term dependencies that reduce local media autonomy and shift editorial alignment toward pro-Beijing messaging by offering subsidized content, technical infrastructure, and ongoing training. The inclusion of Chinese-produced content, such as documentaries translated into Urdu, will very likely shift public perception toward Beijing’s framing of global development and international order. Institutional dependencies on Chinese training, equipment, and editorial workflows will likely reduce local media’s willingness or ability to publish content that contradicts Chinese state narratives.

• The agreement between CCTV and PTV will likely align Pakistan with Beijing-backed narratives critical of India, especially on issues regarding disputed borders, likely exacerbating the current Pakistani-Indian tensions over Kashmir. Introducing China into the conflict as a Pakistani perceived partisan party through the agreement will very likely complicate their attempts to maintain neutrality in Pakistani-Indian relations, as its platforms will likely give the perception of anti-Indian content amplification. Enhanced tensions between Pakistan and India on border disputes will very likely increase cross-border terrorist attacks carried out by groups such as TRF, likely creating new issues for narrative control by the CCTV and PTV as outlined in the agreement. China’s backing of increased media narrative control will very likely cause official disinformation to permeate all sectors of Pakistani society, with a roughly even chance of encouraging a wide range of Pakistani citizens to be confronted with fabricated content and false assertions on social media, thereby fueling grievances that will likely prolong long-term cross-border tensions.

Date: July 13, 2025

Location: Africa

Parties involved:  Russia; Russian state-owned media outlet Russia Today (RT); Russian state information agency (TASS); Russian mercenary groups active in Africa; Russian paramilitary group Africa Corps; Russian-trained media journalists; Russian-led mineral production facilities; politically unstable African states; African local governments; African media; African independent media; African journalists; African independent journalists; African public; African communities; Mali; Burkina Faso; Indonesia; Western firms investing in Africa

The event: Russia is expanding its propaganda by boosting RT and TASS broadcasts in multiple languages, partnering with local media, and training journalists to spread pro-Kremlin narratives.^[3]

Analysis & Implications:

• Russia will very likely continue using Africa as a permissive environment to test and perfect modular disinformation tactics to retool for broader geopolitical use. These refined tactics will very likely enable Russia to target politically sensitive countries such as Indonesia, where Moscow can exploit similar media vulnerabilities to destabilize democratic processes without immediate geopolitical costs. This successful testing and deployment will very likely allow Russia to institutionalize influence operations through local media systems, allowing narratives to sustain and regenerate organically by recruiting local journalists and creating authentic content that audiences trust. These institutionalized operations will almost certainly create a global, low-attribution propaganda model that weakens independent media and democratic norms by obscuring their origins and mimicking organic discourse, likely making detection increasingly difficult for governments and civil societies.

• Russia's journalist training programs in Africa will likely reshape how objectivity is defined in local media, making it harder for independent journalists to operate without being seen as politically suspect. As Russian-trained journalists normalize state-aligned reporting, pro-government media will likely label independent voices as divisive or foreign-influenced, especially in politically unstable environments such as Mali and Burkina Faso. This shift will very likely limit their access to sources, likely making it harder for independent journalists to verify information or report credibility on foreign military involvement. The dominance of these training programs will likely distort local and global understanding of events, as declining independent reporting will likely reduce the coverage accuracy and accountability, almost certainly enabling state abuses and foreign interference to go unchecked.

• Increased propaganda operations in Africa will very likely discredit Western economic investments in favor of pro-Russian sentiment, likely expanding opportunities for Russia to exploit critical resources. Positive public sentiment for Russia will likely enable Russian mercenary groups, such as the Africa Corps, to pressure more African governments into security-for-mineral deals, very likely using disinformation and coercion to establish Russian-led mineral production facilities. This expansion will very likely foster economic dependencies that entrench pro-Russian sentiment, as African communities experience employment and infrastructure benefits from Russian projects. Russia will very likely exploit growing African economic dependency and public support to outcompete Western investments, likely creating a feedback loop where each successful project boosts its credibility over Occidental alternatives.    

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[1] Connecting Nimroz Province: upgraded Zaranj Media Station means more informed residents, by Sgt. Bryan Peterson, licensed under Public Domain (The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.)

[2] Pakistan, China agree on joint media cooperation against fake news, Radio Pakistan, July 2025, https://radio.gov.pk/10-07-2025/pakistan-china-agree-to-enhance-ties 

[3] Russia scales up propaganda operations across Africa, Ukrainian intelligence says, The Kyiv Independent, July 2025, https://kyivindependent.com/russia-scales-up-propaganda-across-africa-ukrainian-intelligence-says/