Larry King’s Video Used For Disinformation
Larry King’s Video Used For Disinformation | |
---|---|
Short Title | Broadcasting Icon Larry King’s Fake Interview Used For Chinese Propaganda |
Location | Global |
Date | August 2020 |
Solove Harm | Appropriation, Increased Accessibility, Distortion |
Information | Public Life, Identifying, Communication |
Threat Actors | Chinese government, Russian journalist, An American Israeli-born businessman |
Individuals | |
Affected | Larry King |
High Risk Groups | |
Tangible Harms |
Larry King’s fake interview with a Russian journalist went viral on social media, spread by accounts tied to China’s government.
Description
Larry King is an American television and radio host. An American Israeli-born businessman who has known King for nearly a decade, had allegedly paid him a few thousand dollars apiece to narrate half a dozen videos for companies or projects in Israel, where King is still a big name. On March 27, 2019 he emailed a script to King’s executive producer about China, not Israel, and the content appeared to be news-related.
After a 300-word preamble on the U.S. trade deficit with China, King was to introduce a guest, Russian journalist Anastasia Dolgova. The first of King’s scripted questions for her was open-ended: “How can we strengthen the relationship between the 2 countries?”.
Dolgova’s answers were not in the script and King didn’t know what she was going to say. Her lines were plugged in separately.
That way, King was ensnared in an international disinformation scheme, which he wasn't aware of while recording his part. Based on social media analysis and the retracing of a trail, it appears that the Chinese government, possibly in concert with Russia, manipulated an American broadcasting icon. This is examples of Appropriation and Distortion .
Posted on YouTube under the title “Larry King US China Special Conference 2019,” and quickly spread by social media accounts linked to Chinese government influence operations, the fake interview went viral across Chinese-language social media, likely reaching hundreds of thousands of users on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Increased Accessibility