Securing Democracy Dispatch

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The Venezuelan state-owned outlet TeleSUR “serves as a vehicle” to advance Caracas’ influence and that of its authoritarian allies—including Russia, China, Cuba, and Nicaragua—against the West under the guise of anti-colonialism without questioning its own allies’ human-rights records, GMF Resident Fellow Marcos Sebares Jiménez-Blanco explains.

Russian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• Trump’s Tariffs: Russian state media predicted that US tariffs would have dire consequences and celebrated Russia’s exclusion from the policy. TASS predicted that tariffs would accelerate Europe’s deindustrialization, which purportedly began when the EU lost access to cheap energy sources, including those from Russia. Inosmi.ru cited Yahoo News Japan to suggest that the United States had not imposed tariffs on Russia because it had no leverage over Moscow and did not want to “provoke [Russian President Vladimir] Putin”. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitri Medvedev boasted that the Russian economy is growing despite sanctions and “barely any” trade with the United States and the EU. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov juxtaposed the collective West with the Eurasian Economic Union, claiming that the latter operates “on principles of equality and mutual benefit” and does not weaponize unlawful unilateral restrictions “as its sole negotiation tactic on trade and economic matters”.
• Belarus-Poland Border Incident: Russian propaganda outlets praised Belarusian authorities for allegedly intercepting a stash of explosives on the border with Poland. RT reported that a driver tried to smuggle more than half a ton of presumably US-made explosives in a cargo van into Russia. RT Deutsch elaborated that a customs laboratory confirmed that the supposed substance was the highly explosive Pentaerythritol tetranitrate. Sputnik China added that the van had Moldovan license plates and began its route in Lithuania. It also cited Russian military blogger Vladimir Grubnik, who concluded this purported incident had characteristics of “Ukrainian methods and Western influences”. According to TASS, Putin thanked his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko for seizing this “dangerous cargo”. 

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week: 

• Trump’s Tariffs: On April 4, PRC embassies in Brazil, Greece, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Sri Lanka, the United States, and other countries broadcast the PRC’s decision to impose a 34% tariff on all US goods. Over the weekend, PRC messaging called on the Trump administration to negotiate and, on Monday, the PRC embassy in the United States shared an anti-tariff speech by Ronald Reagan that was viewed over 14 million times and generated over 37,000 likes on X. Diplomats and state media condemned the additional 50% tariff announced by the Trump administration on April 8, and announced the PRC response to those tariffs. PRC diplomats and state media also relayed their country’s lawsuit at the World Trade Organization.
• Tariff Harms: PRC messaging highlighted harms to ordinary Americans caused by tariffs, with diplomats in France and South Sudan amplifying a PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson’s call for the United States to “put American people first”. Pro-PRC accounts highlighted the US stock market’s volatility, in contrast to the PRC’s “swift and decisive measures to stabilize its capital market”. PRC diplomats and state media portrayed countries seeking to appease the US administration as self-amputating. CGTN and its branches in Europe and the Americas, as well as Xinhua, China Daily, and the Global Times, all amplified the anti-Trump protests that took place in the United States over the weekend, often with video footage of the demonstrations.

TikTok finds 27,000+ inauthentic accounts that promoted candidates in Romanian election: TikTok discovered more than 27,000 inauthentic accounts—many of which were created with Russian email services or had IP addresses in Türkiye—that posted comments at scale in support of Romanian far-right parties and candidates ahead of the country’s election last year. TikTok also made internal changes to better safeguard the rescheduled Romanian election in May, including enhanced labeling of political content and the hiring of more Romanian-speaking staff. Managing Director David Salvo tells the Dispatch, “There’s still debate over the Romanian Constitutional Court’s decision to nullify the results of last year’s first round of elections on account of Russian interference; US Vice President JD Vance even criticized the decision in his speech at this year’s Munich Security Conference. Reading TikTok’s report, what is not up for debate is whether there was a coordinated, inauthentic attempt to boost certain candidates and parties, particularly Cӑlin Georgescu, whose victory was annulled. The Russian actors allegedly behind the operation didn’t work alone. They engaged a for-profit company to post comments on posts, boosting traffic to them. Increasingly, the information manipulation ecosystem intertwines malign state actors with private actors who have a profit motive. Sometimes the impact of these operations is comically small, and sometimes—like in Romania—they have significant repercussions for democracy.”

PRC-linked influence operation on WeChat targets Canadian PM: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is the subject of an “information operation” traced to the top news account on the Chinese messaging app WeChat, according to Canadian officials. That account has ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the operation sought to influence Chinese-Canadian communities with articles promoting a mix of positive and negative narratives about Carney, which were subsequently amplified by other WeChat accounts in a “coordinated and inauthentic way”. Research Analyst Etienne Soula says, “Over the past couple of election cycles, the PRC has engaged in several attempts to influence Canadian elections and civic life. From bussing students to weigh on the outcome of a party contest to targeting the family of a member of Parliament critical of PRC interests, Beijing has demonstrated a clear and consistent intent to influence Canadian democracy. Given this history, Ottawa is right to vigilantly monitor these latest PRC attempts to shape Canadian voter perceptions. This is especially true at a time when Canada’s relations with the United States have deteriorated, a state of affairs that the PRC may seek to use to weaken its main geopolitical rival.”

In Case You Missed It

• Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala blamed foreign hackers for breaching his X account and posting false content alleging a Russian attack on Czech troops near Kaliningrad and reciprocal tariffs on the United States.
• The PRC has intensified its use of artificial intelligence to conduct online information campaigns to divide the Taiwanese public, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said.
• Poland has yet to appoint a watchdog to protect its online information space from foreign interference ahead of its election, violating an EU Digital Services Act requirement.
• UK police arrested a Romanian man in connection with a fire at a warehouse in Birmingham last July believed to have been linked to a Russian sabotage operation.

Something Else for Europe and the U.S. to Disagree About: ‘Free Speech’. Managing Director David Salvo quoted in The New York Times

Musk and Trump fan flames of Fort Knox gold conspiracy theory. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer quoted in NBC News

Marine Le Pen uses populist playbook to rally support after politics ban. Research Analyst Etienne Soula quoted in The Washington Post

“The Assembly calls for comprehensive strategies that include promoting media literacy, safeguarding press freedom, and ensuring transparency in political funding. It advocates for a collaborative approach among member states and international organisations [sic] to counteract these threats, while balancing measures against interference with the protection of human rights and democratic freedoms.”

—A resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on April 8.

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.