Pro-China social media campaign sought to influence U.S. voters, researchers say
A sprawling online propaganda campaign that pushes pro-China messaging has been trying to influence American voters, researchers say.
A sprawling online propaganda campaign that pushes pro-China messaging has been trying to influence American voters, researchers say.
Two companies that study large-scale online influence operations published research this week showing that a pro-China campaign was active and targeting the U.S. midterm elections as recently as this month. Researchers found fake accounts across the internet that sought to spread messaging such as the superiority of the Chinese state and denigrating American democracy.
So far, there’s no evidence that the influence operation has been effective. But such efforts show that pro-China influence operations targeting the West are experimenting with new tactics and are increasingly aimed at shaping American elections.
Mandiant, a cybersecurity company recently acquired by Google, said in a report published Wednesday that researchers found related material across multiple social media platforms, including videos purportedly from Americans that pushed pro-China messages and downplayed the effectiveness of voting.
Mandiant declined to name the platforms on which it found the videos and other posts, and say whether they included YouTube, which is also owned by Google.
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