Regardless of whether Iran had a direct hand in Hamas’ bloody attack—and U.S. intelligence says no, at least for the moment—Iran has certainly sought to take advantage of it, both on the ground in the Middle East and in the information space of the United States, its allies, and indeed the world as a whole. Iran is not the only one doing this—China and Russia are running similar operations linked to the conflict.

The antisemitic wave unleashed by October 7 and the war that followed has not yet subsided, as evidenced most recently in abhorrent developments on college campuses and ugly rhetoric at protests. That antisemitism exists at this scale is disturbing enough. But arguably worse is the largely unappreciated prospect that certain countries stoke the fires of hate in the media and online deliberately for their own benefit. The question is to what end. Could such activity not be simply ideological, but also strategic? When we look at the activities of Iran and other nations like China, the answer is yes. …

Iran is not alone in its attempt to use the opportunity of the war to tap into the well of antisemitism across the world. There are signs that China is using social media in a similar way: the algorithms of TikTok, for instance, which is used by 67 percent of American teens, have created echo chambers of hate and put fabricated accounts of Israeli atrocities into heavy circulation. Such disinformation encourages its audiences to consume fake news that evokes strong emotions. It encourages its young TikTok users to take sides with little or no true understanding of (or interest in) the history and complexity of the conflict. Such voices, be they useful idiots, fake personas or government mouthpieces, deny that Hamas committed the unprecedented carnage on October 7. Others say Israel had it coming. Still others deny it happened at all.

[Russia, China, and Iran have all been manipulating social-media streams in the US for years. TikTok is the easiest for China to manipulate, and as Blout writes, they do so shamelessly. Beijing is likely assisting their two allies in exploiting TikTok for their propaganda purposes, but it’s not *just* TikTok, and it’s not *just* propaganda. They also have influence operations and other intel efforts on all social media platforms. Anyone with discernment can see the patterns, and I’ve seen the very odd “friending” efforts for years. — Ed]