By Christopher Bing and Katie Paul
(Reuters) – Chinese social media influence operations are impersonating U.S. voters, disparaging U.S. politicians and pushing divisive messages ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, new research by intelligence firm Graphika shows.
The campaign is part of an effort analysts linked to the Chinese state called “Spamouflage” or “Dragonbridge,” which pushes a mixture of spam and targeted propaganda onto the internet.
Spamouflage has been active since at least 2017 but has increased its activity during elections, according to experts. It has got thousands of accounts on more than 50 websites, forums and social media platforms.
“The key takeaway from this report,” said Jack Stubbs, who manages Graphika’s research team, is that Spamouflage “has become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and disrupt the US political conversation.”
“This is significant because it shows China’s influence operations targeting the US are expanding, engaging in advanced deceptive behavior, and directly targeting organic but hyper-sensitive disruptions in society,” Stubbs added.
In one example highlighted by Graphika, Chinese operatives pretended to be American anti-war activists. Using multiple accounts on X, operators created memes that labeled Trump a “fraud,” showed him wearing an orange prison uniform, and called Biden a “coward.”
In the English stop, another account asked: “America is still our America now?” Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said, “China has no intention and will not interfere in the US election, and we hope that the US side will not make a problem about China in the election.”
Facebook (NASDAQ: ) previously linked the campaign to Chinese law enforcement, calling it “the world’s largest cross-platform covert influence operation.”
Spamouflage messaging does not seem to favor sides of the political spectrum – either Democrats or Republicans – but aims to amplify existing criticism of the American public and government.
Historically, the group has had limited success with actual Americans, but that began to change in mid-2023 when operators increasingly targeted former President Donald Trump’s genuine supporters, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which has conducted its own research into Spamouflage. .
OPERATION INFLUENCE TRACKING
Graphika identified 15 Spamouflage accounts on social media platform X and one account on TikTok, all claiming to be US citizens or media outlets. It also highlighted other profiles associated with the account on YouTube and Instagram that were suspended during the completion of the report.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
A YouTube spokesperson said, “The channels previously flagged by Graphika have been identified and terminated as part of an investigation into a coordinated influence operation, and had very few views when they were removed.”
The Tiktok account, named Harlan Report, is one of the group’s most successful assets. It posted a single video in July that got 1.5 million views.
The video, which was removed from TikTok last week, mocked Biden’s press conference at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit where he stumbled over his speech. Like a similar social media post shared at the time, he falsely copied Biden’s words to suggest he had made a sexual reference, according to Reuters Fact Check.
A Reuters review of the Harlan Report’s TikTok account shows that it posted its first video in May. Other recent videos posted by the account have garnered hundreds of thousands of views, including one shared last week that showed a CNN panelist discussing the network’s interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company has permanently banned Harlan Report’s account for violating community guidelines.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, confirmed that it has removed Spamouflage activity from its platform in two places as part of its ongoing enforcement against the operation. None of that could appeal to the original audience, a Meta spokesperson said.
The US government is investigating foreign attempts to interfere in the election.
In July, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, released a report on election meddling, stating that China “approaches this US presidential election more carefully… and probably has no plans to influence the outcome.” However, “we are tracking efforts to influence US society more broadly.”
