In the run-up to the US presidential election on November 5, a Chinese social media influence campaign is spreading divisive messages, disseminating false information about American leaders, and impersonating American voters, according to a recent analysis by the intelligence firm Graphika.
The campaign is part of a well-known Chinese state-linked operation that researchers have called “Dragonbridge” or “Spamouflage,” which targets propaganda and spam on the internet.
Experts claim that while spammouflage has been operating since at least 2017, its efforts have intensified as the election draws near. Thousands of accounts on more than 50 websites, forums, and social media platforms have been utilized by it.
According to Jack Stubbs, the manager of Graphika’s research team, “The report’s main conclusion is that Spamouflage has stepped up its efforts to influence and penetrate American political discourse.”
“This is important because it demonstrates how Chinese influence operations directed towards the United States are developing, utilizing increasingly sophisticated deceitful tactics, and specifically focusing on these natural yet extremely delicate social divisions,” Stubbs continued.
One instance that Graphika brought to light involved the Chinese operation assuming the identity of American anti-war activists. The agents used many X accounts to generate memes calling Biden a “coward” and branding Trump as a “fraud,” with him shown wearing orange jail garb.
Another account inquired, “Is the current American still our America?” in poor English.
“China hopes that the US side won’t bring up China during the election since China has no intention of meddling and won’t do so,” stated Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington.
Facebook has previously described the campaign as “the world’s largest documented cross-platform covert influence campaign” and linked it to Chinese government enforcement.
The messaging of Spamouflage seems to be intended to highlight critiques already leveled at American government and society, rather than to support Democrats or Republicans.
In the past, the organization had trouble connecting with real Americans, but that started to change in the middle of 2023 when the operatives started focusing more on actual supporters of former president Donald Trump, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which has conducted its own study on the subject of smokescreens.
Graphika discovered 15 Spamouflage accounts on the social media site X and 1 account on TikTok, all of which purported to be media outlets or people of the United States. In addition, it emphasized other Instagram and YouTube profiles linked to those accounts that had been suspended by the time its analysis was complete.
An inquiry for comment from X was not answered.
“The channel that Graphika detected was previously found and closed as a result of our research on coordinated influence operations,” a YouTube spokeswoman stated. “It had extremely few views at the time it was taken down.”
One of the group’s most popular assets on Tiktok was the Harlan Report account. In July, it uploaded just one video, and 1.5 million people watched it.
The video, which was taken down from TikTok last week, made fun of Biden stumbling over his statement during a press conference during NATO’s 75th anniversary summit. According to a Reuters Fact Check, the post mistranslated Biden’s words to imply that he had made a sexual allusion, much like other similar social media posts that were widely circulated at the time.
The Harlan Report account on TikTok released its debut video in May, according to a Reuters analysis of the account. The account has garnered hundreds of millions of views for other recent videos it has uploaded. One such video was shared last week and featured CNN panelists debating the network’s interview with Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris.
According to a TikTok representative, the Harlan Report account was permanently banned by the business for breaking community norms.
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has stated that, as part of its ongoing enforcement against the operation, it has eliminated two instances of spammouflage activity from its platforms. A representative for Meta stated that neither was able to acquire any traction with genuine audiences.
The United States government is looking into attempts by foreign parties to rig the election.
China was “approaching this U.S. presidential election more cautiously… and probably does not plan to influence the outcome,” according to a July report on election meddling from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. But “We are keeping an eye on broader attempts to sway the American population,” as the statement goes.