Meta found a disinformation campaign on multiple social media outlets that generated pro-Chinese content and denigrated journalists, activists, and the U.S.Meta has taken action on its own websites and described the network as the most extensive of its kind in the world.Meta's investigators established a connection between the network and Chinese government forces.
On Tuesday, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced the disruption of a large-scale Chinese covert influence campaign that the social media company labeled as "the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world." Over 7,700 accounts and 930 pages were taken down on Facebook. These posts centered around promoting a positive image of China, specifically their treatment of the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang province, and distributing negative content about the U.S. and disinformation about the origin of the Covid-19 virus in various languages. The influence network utilized nearly every major social media platform, including Medium; Reddit; Tumblr; YouTube; and X, previously Twitter. This campaign was first noticed after reports in 2022 pertaining to Chinese law enforcement targeting a human rights NGO. Meta was able to connect it to another influence campaign from 2019 called Spamouflage. The threat report from Meta stated that "we assess Spamouflage to be the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation to date." Links to people associated with Chinese law enforcement were also discovered. Meta has identified and disabled other operations prior to the upcoming election, as well as revealed more information about a Russian disinformation campaign from 2022. In the past, social media platforms, including Meta, have faced issues with influence campaigns, most notably Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Although the network was widespread, it was not successful, with a majority of the 500,000 followers being inauthentic accounts from Bangladesh, Brazil, and Vietnam.
Researchers pinpointed operations by operators that posted headlines that had little or no connection to the original post. They noted the Chinese operation was especially ambitious, reaching more than 50 different online platforms with multi-lingual messages. An example of such a falsified headline was "Great clue! Suspicious U.S. seafood received before the outbreak at Huanan Seafood Market," which was repeated in eight different languages. Conversely, another headline, alleging the COVID-19 originated from Fort Detrick, had no evidence to back it up. Numerous scientific studies argue for the Wuhan market as the site of the earliest Covid-19 cases.The campaign also extended to social media posts about indicted billionaire Guo Wengui and former Trump administration official and Wengui associate Steve Bannon, such as "Guo Wengui was awarded the Best Traitor Award in the United States" and "Bannon is no longer safe from the law." Another headline read "Guo Wengui, Guo Wengui, Bannon, Bannon, Yan Limeng, the sorrow of the Ant Gang is destined to be fruitless."
Researchers identified a targeted campaign by operators that used posts with little relevance to the original content. The Chinese operation was especially persistent, spreading content across more than 50 online platforms in multiple languages. For example, "Great clue! Suspicious U.S. seafood received before the outbreak at Huanan Seafood Market" was reposted in eight languages. However, another headline that claimed the COVID-19 originated from Fort Detrick had no scientific basis. A number of studies point towards the Wuhan market as the epicenter of the earliest Covid-19 cases.In addition, the operators targeted certain individuals such as Guo Wengui and Steve Bannon with headlines such as "Guo Wengui was awarded the Best Traitor Award in the United States" and "Bannon is no longer safe from the law" as well as "Guo Wengui, Guo Wengui, Bannon, Bannon, Yan Limeng, the sorrow of the Ant Gang is destined to be fruitless."
Meta was able to discover "unusual" hashtags related to the network. In April 2023, federal law enforcement was made aware of a covert Chinese vice squad located in lower Manhattan. It was reported by the Times of London that a similar outpost existed in England. Apparently, in response, the disinformation campaign employed the hashtag #ThisispureslanderthatChinahasestablishedasecretpolicedepartmentinEngland. This hashtag had still been active on X as of Sunday evening, connected to a YouTube video refuting the Times' coverage. It is not known whether X has made any attempts to disrupt the impact of the network on its own platform. X has not yet said anything in response to CNBC's request for comment.
The investigation undertaken by Meta discovered that the different clusters were tied to individuals linked to Chinese law enforcement. According to Meta's cybersecurity team, they are ready to recognize and stop similar influence campaigns heading into the 2024 elections. Nimmo noted, "If we see some sort of pivot to speaking more directly about U.S. political matters, we can catch it early and stop it." He added that there will always be work to be done and vigilance is key.
EDIT: Correction: A previous version of this article mischaracterized the Cambridge Analytica scandal as an influence campaign. WATCH: China's Corporate Spy War
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