Tonight, quote, Civil War on the Brink, Texas declaring a state of war. Headlines like this are actually being blasted across China. Their media sensors are doing very little to stop this, even though, of course, it is false. Why does the Chinese government do that? What's happening? Will Ripley is out front.

In a world where information is power, where fact and fiction collide, a digital drum beat of disinformation from China, the US State Department says, threatening the very fabric of the free world.

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One of Beijing's latest campaigns, focusing on Texas, a tidal wave of disinformation surging across social media in China in recent weeks, zeroing in on tensions between Texas and the White House over illegal migrants spilling over the border from Mexico. If Texas declared independence from the United States, Chinese social media users captivated by videos like this, speculating about Texas declaring independence. Online chatter of a looming US Civil War, getting hundreds of thousands of likes, shares, and comments, mostly untouched by Beijing's army of online sensors.

This is the dark side of globalization.

And not an isolated incident, the State Department says, releasing its first ever report on what it calls the People's Republic of China's information manipulation.

When you look at the pieces of the puzzle and you put it together, you see a breathtaking ambition on the part of the PRC to seek information dominance in key regions of the world.

What the US calls a multibillion dollar coordinated campaign of distortion and disinformation devised by the Chinese government, exploiting divisions within the United States. China's Foreign Ministry firing back, accusing the US of hypocrisy for being the first nation to weaponize global information. Beijing blasting the State Department report as disinformation that misrepresents facts and truth, labeling America an empire of lies. The US says China's digital authoritarianism accelerated in recent years, magnifying perceptions of chaos in America. A welcome distraction, analysts say, for Beijing's Communist leaders grappling with a growing pile of problems at home. From China's real estate crisis, new homes never finished, prompting protests by angry buyers to a plunging stock market, skyrocketing youth unemployment and rapidly aging population. Beijing and Washington battling for information dominance.

Tonight, one key point on this fake news of a looming civil war in Texas, Aaron, this is not the first time. Just the latest example on the Chinese Internet of information being twisted, manipulated. The US says it's part of this much bigger campaign by the Chinese government, almost an Orwellian attempt to poison the information space that is crucial for democracies to function, weaponizing disinformation, exploiting existing fault lines and divisions in the United States and beyond. With one goal, Erin, they want to reshape global opinions to benefit China.

All right. Well, Ripley, thank you very much. Taipei.