China’s ‘Spamouflage Campaign’ Targets Trudeau, Poilievre, MPs: Global Affairs Canada

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre take part in the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa on May 30, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and dozens of Canadian MPs have been targeted by a “spamouflage” campaign coming from China, said Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

The agency’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) detected the campaign in which a bot network left thousands of comments in English and French on the social media accounts of Canadian MPs, the GAC said in a statement issued on Oct. 23. The incident was first detected in early August 2023 and accelerated in scale over the September long weekend, said the GAC.

“This campaign targeted dozens of MPs from across the political spectrum and spanning multiple geographic regions of Canada, including the Prime Minister, the leader of the Official Opposition, and several members of Cabinet,” the statement said.

According to the GAC, spamouflage is a tactic that employs networks of recently created or compromised social media accounts to disseminate and magnify propaganda messages across various platforms. RRM Canada’s analysis indicates that the bot network in question may be affiliated with the widely recognized spamouflage network that has been publicly reported by companies such as Meta and Microsoft, as well as by threat intelligence experts who have linked its activities to China.

The recently detected spam comments alleged that a critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Canada had accused multiple MPs of engaging in criminal and ethical misconduct. Notably, the GAC warned that the spamouflage campaign likely involved the use of “deepfake” videos, digitally altered by artificial intelligence, to specifically target the Canadian officials.

GAC said that the activities in question have not posed a security threat to politicians or their families. It also noted that all MPs have been briefed about this campaign and have received information on how to protect themselves against foreign interference and on reporting any suspicious activities.

CCP Interference Campaigns

This latest incident comes after the GAC reported in August that it had identified “a coordinated network” of disinformation campaigns using the social media platform WeChat to target Conservative MP Michael Chong. That threat against Mr. Chong came days after the Globe and Mail published an article citing a top-secret assessment from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), indicating that the Chinese regime had targeted the MP over a motion he had sponsored in the House of Commons in 2021 to declare Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs in China as genocide.

RRM Canada, which supports the country’s efforts in countering foreign state-sponsored disinformation, said one of the primary objectives of the spamouflage operation is likely to tarnish the reputation of targeted MPs. The strategy includes spreading what appear to be authentic posts, including videos, making allegations of impropriety against these MPs. Notably, the campaign also involves the use of a well-known Chinese-speaking figure in Canada to amplify these claims.

Additionally, RRM Canada’s findings point to a second goal: quashing criticism of the CCP. This is achieved by encouraging MPs to distance themselves from the critic and discouraging wider online communities from engaging with them.

The CCP has a history of attempting to silence its critics in Canada. NDP MP Jenny Kwan revealed in May that CSIS had informed her that she is considered an “evergreen candidate” for CCP interference due to her human rights advocacy.