Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said on Tuesday that it had discovered and taken down a Chinese campaign to interfere in the U.S. political process.
The Chinese campaign seemed limited in scope and clumsy at times.
The fake posts began appearing on social media in November of 2021, using pictures of men in formal attire but the names of women.
The users posed as conservatives to promote gun rights and oppose abortion. They presented themselves as liberals from Florida, Texas and California and opposed guns. They messed up the English language and didn't get many followers.
The campaign could not be attributed to any group or individual. China is using social media to promote its political and diplomatic agenda.
The focus on divisive domestic politics was what made the effort unique.
In previous influence campaigns, China's propaganda apparatus was more focused on attacking American foreign policy and promoting China's view of issues like the mass oppression of Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang.
Ben Nimmo said the operation reflected a new direction for Chinese influence operations.
He said that it was talking to Americans rather than talking about America to the rest of the world. The operation is small but changing.
Questions were raised about the operation's ambitions and goals. There were 81 Facebook accounts, 8 Facebook pages and one group. The operation shifted its focus from the US to the Czech Republic by July.
The posts appeared when Americans were not awake. They didn't come back after a substantial lunch break.
A user struggled with clarity in a post.
The company's disclosure was intended to draw attention to the potential threat of Chinese interference in domestic affairs of its competitors.
The larger Russian influence operation that started in May focused on Germany, as well as France, Italy and Britain.
It was the largest and most complex operation that the company had detected from Russia.
The network of websites that impersonated legitimate news organizations in Europe were the focus of the campaign.
The sites warned about Ukrainian refugees and argued that economic sanctions against Russia wouldn't work. The articles were promoted across the internet, but also on Telegram, which is used in Russia, as well as on Facebook andInstagram.
The Russian operation involved 1,633 accounts on Facebook, 703 pages and one group, as well as 29 different accounts onInstagram, according to the company. Thousands of accounts follow one or more of the Facebook pages. New websites appeared as Meta moved to block the operation's domain.
In August, there were disclosures by a Germany's television network, ZDF. It did not accuse the government of the Russian president in the same way that the Chinese did.
David Agranovich, Meta's director of threat disruption, said that the attackers threw everything at the wall. It doesn't mean mission accomplished here
The company said the overlap between the Russian and Chinese campaigns was not connected. Growing cross-fertilization of official statements and state media reports in the two countries is reflected in the overlap.
There are accounts associated with the Chinese campaign that posted material from Russia.
A version of the allegation was posted in April by a French-language account linked to the operation. The one that drew a response was in French.
The user said it was fake. It's fake. As usual, it's fake.
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