The social media influence operation is part of a disinformation campaign that analysts have dubbed “Spamouflage” or “Dragonbridge.”
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) campaign has been tracked by Graphika since 2019 and is known for spreading large amounts of unrelated content alongside disinformation, according to researchers. It is active across more than 40 online platforms “where it employs inauthentic accounts to seed and amplify videos and cartoons that promote pro-China and anti-Western narratives,” according to the report.
As the U.S. election approaches, Spamouflage has expanded its use of fake online personas that “impersonate U.S. voters or U.S.-based social media users,” researchers said.
The firm found 15 Spamouflage accounts on social media platform X and one on TikTok. The accounts impersonate “U.S. citizens and/or U.S.-focused peace, human rights, and information integrity advocates frustrated by American politics and the West,” according to the report.
One of the fake users maintained accounts on TikTok and X, as well as a now-deactivated Instagram account and a YouTube channel, the research revealed.
“This activity is just a fraction of the larger Spamouflage network but is distinct from the operation’s typical use of low-quality inauthentic accounts with generic and thinly developed personas,” according to the report.
Jack Stubbs, Graphika’s chief intelligence officer, said that Spamouflage is “one of the world’s largest covert online influence operations—an operation run by Chinese state actors—[and] has become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and to sway U.S. political conversations ahead of the election.”
The researchers wrote that ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, these fake accounts mimicking Americans are focused on divisive political topics, including gun control, racial issues, homelessness, and the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The accounts have “seeded and amplified content denigrating Democratic and Republican candidates,” the report found.
Campaign Aims to ‘Intensify the Confrontation’
Tseng Yisuo, an associate researcher at the cybersecurity and decision-making division of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 4 that “the CCP does not necessarily support a specific party or candidate, but targets both the Republican and Democratic camps through influence operations, incitement, and creating division [in society].”He said that the CCP’s ultimate goal is “to undermine the confidence of the people of democratic countries in their democratic system and the governance of democratic governments, and make people lose confidence in democracy.”
Retired Taiwanese Maj. Gen. Yu Tsung-chi, an adviser to the Formosa Republican Association, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 4 that no matter who wins the election in November, the United States will only take a tougher stance on the CCP.
“The consensus between the two parties in Congress is that the CCP is the main threat to the United States, [and] has replaced Russia,” he said.
“So the CCP’s cyber army will now infiltrate both the Democratic and Republican camps to stir things up and attack the other party. The purpose is to intensify the confrontation between the two parties. The more divided the United States becomes, the weaker its power will be.”
Yu said that the CCP is trying to interfere with the U.S. election because “if there is internal conflict after the U.S. presidential election, or even bloodshed, it will paralyze the Congress.”
“Then, it will be the best time for the CCP to [pursue] military aggression abroad,” he said. “This is because it knows that once the United States falls into civil strife, it will not have the capacity to support other regions.”
Countering the CCP’s Disinformation Campaign
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said that it had removed Spamouflage activity from its platforms. The company said in a report last year that it had identified that Spamouflage was backed by the Chinese regime’s security agencies.“Our investigation found links to individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement. We were also able to link this network to the so-called ‘Spamouflage’ operation and its many separate clusters of spammy activity that Meta and our peers have been taking down since 2019,” it said.
X suspended several of the accounts linked to Spamouflage. TikTok also removed accounts linked to the Spamouflage network.
Yu said that the United States hopes to restrict the influence of social media platforms such as TikTok through legislation, but that “the practices of totalitarian countries change with the countermeasures of democratic countries, making it difficult for democratic countries to defend themselves.”
He said that democratic countries have their advantages. “Information flows completely freely, and all kinds of false information can be exposed by the truth. Therefore, democratic countries should limit [this] disinformation by restoring the truth as quickly as possible,” he said.
Tseng said that the United States should publicly disclose more information about this type of CCP operation so that “not only the national security agencies, but also the public can be more vigilant about it.”
ByteDance/TikTok, Meta, and X did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
