I think the correct answer is "both". TikTok means "the Chinese" have access to many billions of western eyeball-hours with really no way for anyone to know wha

I think the correct answer is "both". TikTok means "the Chinese" have access to many billions of western eyeball-hours with really no way for anyone to know what's being shown. They don't even need to produce the propaganda themselves - all they need to do is tune "the algorithm" to show what they want to more people, and a million influencers will magically evolve their worldview towards the one that gets them the most followers. That may or may not exist. And, yes, I think the Chinese government gives Byte Dance a huge amount of money to ensure they have some level of say in how this all plays out. Why wouldn't you? It's cleaner, easier and probably cheaper than (say) funding a rebel group somewhere. Probably less likely to bite you in the arse, too.