Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said on Tuesday that it had stopped a Chinese government enforcement-led misinformation operation.
According to reports, Meta's campaign was described as the "largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world."
Over 7,700 Facebook accounts and 930 Facebook pages identified to be a part of a sizable influence network were removed due to the investigation. This network promoted favorable narratives about China, focusing on the Xinjiang region, attracting worldwide attention to Uyghur minority treatment. The network also sought to propagate false information about the United States and the causes of the COVID-19 outbreak in various languages.
After news of a similar disinformation operation targeting a human rights NGO emerged in 2022, Meta started working to identify the Chinese influence operation. The accounts participating in the "Spamouflage" endeavor praised China's policies more often than they criticized the US, Western foreign policy, and anyone who expressed doubts about Beijing, such as journalists.
Ben Nimmo, who oversees threat intelligence for Meta globally, said in a CNBC interview, "We assess that it's the largest, though unsuccessful, and most prolific covert influence operation that we know of in the world today."
Spamouflage Linked to Chinese Law Enforcement Agency
The Spamouflage campaign used a variety of websites outside Facebook, including YouTube, Reddit, Quora, Medium, and X (formerly known as Twitter), which Meta has linked to persons involved with Chinese law enforcement. This cross-platform strategy showed the campaign's worldwide reach to Taiwan, the US, Australia, Britain, Japan, and Chinese-speaking populations, according to a DW report.
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Like Russia's "troll factories," the Chinese operation utilized "Spamouflage" to buy accounts from commercial spam operators in other countries and use them to spread political messages. This tactic often entailed abrupt changes in the subject matter of posts, such as when an account went from promoting lingerie to discussing political upheaval.
Nimmo remarked that the Chinese and Russian activities appeared to have a similar learning curve, implying that these state-sponsored initiatives may have had mutual influences. Despite its size, the Spamouflage campaign found breaking out of its informational bubble challenging.
Russia's Doppelganger Strategy
The social media giant detailed a separate disclosure detailing its attempts to thwart a Russian influence campaign known as "Doppelganger." This effort involves creating fake news websites and sharing links to stories critical of Ukraine and Western nations on social media. This scheme was credited to a Russian PR agency and an IT business that have both been subject to European Union sanctions.
Meta discovered the Doppelganger operation last year, which expanded from mimicking European news sites to The Washington Post, Fox News, NATO, and government agencies. According to NPR, the operation has had trouble gaining momentum despite the intricate structure of its websites since the associated accounts are obviously fraudulent.
The continual work of Meta to stop these massive misinformation tactics emphasizes the rising need to be vigilant online as social media platforms continue to play a significant part in shaping public opinion.
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