Information operations directed at Hong Kong

What makes coordinated activity from government entities different from brigading performed in coordinated ways by non-government people with political or activist agendas? Isn’t that also manipulation? Or is it that Twitter just has its own political and economic agenda and their TOS/rules/blog posts are self-justification?

In my opinion; the main difference here is that the government entities used bots or paid people to post propaganda. While the pro-democracy non-government camp used their own account to share their views. This I'm okay with.

But a good example on how not to do it is the /r/hongkong subreddit, it's filled with pro-democracy accounts who will delegitimise any posts that goes against the general sentiment. It's impossible to have a constructive discussion there without being marked as a troll, or a pro-china bot. That to me is just the same as spreading propaganda and preventing free speech. That's not ok.

A government from a wealthy nation can surreptitiously force Twitter off the internet indefinitely by [choose your favorite attack here].

A government from a wealthy nation could also send law enforcement into Twitter HQ at any time and force Twitter to shut down another government's propaganda campaign.

In conclusion, "the ability to start WWIII" is an important, obvious, and relevant capability that "non-government people" do not possess.