Superspreaders of Malign and Subversive Information on COVID-19: Russian and Chinese Efforts Targeting the United States

Matthews, Migacheva, and Brown's analysis of Russian and Chinese COVID-19 disinformation targeting the United States is notable for its typological approach: rather than simply cataloguing false claims, the report develops a typology of 'superspreaders' — the actors, platforms, and content characteristics that determine whether a piece of disinformation achieves wide amplification. The typology distinguishes between deliberate state-sponsored manipulation, opportunistic exploitation of existing fears, and inadvertent amplification by legitimate media.

The report's comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese COVID-19 disinformation is analytically revealing. The two states pursued divergent objectives — Russia primarily sought to sow confusion and undermine trust in US institutions, while China focused on deflecting blame for the pandemic's origins and promoting positive narratives about Chinese pandemic management — which produced substantially different content strategies despite targeting the same information environment simultaneously. The COVID-19 case is the most studied instance of state-sponsored health disinformation, and this report is the most rigorous comparative analysis of the two primary adversary contributions.