'Spamouflage' Social Media Propaganda Op Linked to Chinese Law Enforcement
Chinese law enforcement may be behind a disinformation operation that’s been trying to spread propaganda across dozens of social networks, according to Facebook’s parent Meta.
The operation, dubbed “Spamouflage,” has been spotted on over 50 social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Reddit, the company said in research published on Tuesday.
The covert op has targeted users in the US, Taiwan, UK, Australia, and Japan with positive commentary about China, including the country’s Xinjiang region, all the while criticizing Western foreign policies. At one point, the operation tried to promote a conspiracy theory that COVID-19 originated in the US.
In addition, the group has been posting pro-China comments in replies to the question-and-answer site Quora, while publishing cartoons on Pinterest and Pixiv. At other times, the operation has re-circulated propaganda articles across various social networks to try and amplify their reach. “Taken together, we estimate Spamouflage to be the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation to date,” Meta says.
In response, Meta shut down 7,704 accounts, 954 pages, and 15 groups on Facebook tied to the covert op. The company also uncovered “links to individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement,” but it refrained from publicizing the evidence to prevent the Chinese propaganda operation from learning how the company tracks its activities, Meta tells PCMag
“Whenever we attributed influence operations, we do it based on a combination of technical and behavioral indicators including technical/infrastructure signals, distinctive language errors, posting patterns, etc,” the company adds.
In the meantime, Meta says it tracked the group to
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