I find it interesting how it appeared clear in 2016 US election that Reddit for example was being a target of Russian interference, (alongside other places like Facebook and Britain during Brexit), even with Russia in a weakened state China appears to have seen what was being done as valuable and taken up the task
The playbook always seems to be to stoke wedge issues, including funding groups on both sides of the political isle; funding the NRA and BLM seems to be two of the most common examples. The reality being that the amount of disruption and destabilisation that is achieved, it must be that these governments must see it as good value for their money.
They don’t necessarily require a starter explosive, certain types do of course. It’s more about overcoming the initial energy required, for example the arc from an electric arc lighter could probably overcome that requirement in a lot of scenarios.