The Chinese government has harnessed a massive network of social media accounts to influence the November U.S. presidential election. Independent researchers and government officials say they’ve identified numerous accounts controlled by China, most of which are currently posing as supporters of former President Donald Trump. These accounts often amplify conspiratorial content, such as claims that President Joe Biden is a “Satanist pedophile,” in an effort to spread discord and discredit the MAGA movement.
According to Elise Thomas, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the network of Chinese government-controlled accounts is likely part of a long-standing Communist Party program called ‘Spamouflage.’ However, the volume of content being pushed by fake social media accounts is unprecedented. “I’ve never seen anything along those lines at all before,” Thomas said in a recent interview. She also noted that several accounts had previously posted exclusively in Mandarin Chinese before being retooled to appear as though the user is American.
These actions underscore a potential change in Beijing’s approach to impacting U.S. politics, with an increased willingness to undermine individual candidates and parties. Unlike past efforts, it appears an actual human controls each account. Previously, the Chinese government utilized bot networks to run thousands of social media accounts and push pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda.
Despite pledges from Meta to address the fake Chinese-controlled accounts on Facebook and Instagram, the CCP propaganda operation appears to continue unabated. An investigation by The Foundation for Defense of Democracies found that at least 3,000 accounts linked to a Facebook page called War of Somethings are part of the Chinese influence and propaganda operation. Max Lesser, a senior analyst with the foundation, told the New York Times: “What we’re seeing is the campaign just continues, undeterred.”
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