China has significantly increased its online social media influence operations, according to a report published by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The report states that China has become the third most common source of foreign influence operations, behind Russia and Iran. Meta has taken down five Chinese networks of fake accounts in 2023, marking a significant increase from 2019 when the company first removed a campaign originating from China. Although China’s efforts have not gained much traction, the country’s influence operations target people in sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Europe, and the United States. The campaigns aim to promote Chinese interests, from defending Beijing’s human rights record to attacking government critics.<\/p>\n
The Chinese influence operations disrupted by Meta encompass a wide range of tactics and targets. These operations include small-scale campaigns that create personas and larger campaigns that utilize spammy networks. The common factor among these operations is their struggle to gain an authentic audience. Meta’s report highlights that the Chinese campaigns have targeted individuals in sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Europe, and the United States.<\/p>\n
In the third quarter of this year, Meta took down two China-based operations. One operation consisted of around 4,800 Facebook accounts impersonating Americans and posting about domestic politics and U.S.-China relations. These accounts copied and pasted posts from American politicians, including both Democrats and Republicans, without any attempt to disguise the origin of the content. The second operation, although smaller, was more sophisticated and focused on Tibet and India. The accounts posed as journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists, posting about regional news, sports, culture, and political issues. Some accounts also operated on other platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter). <\/p>\n
Meta’s report highlights the diverse range of tactics employed by China-based networks in their influence operations. The contrast between the two Chinese campaigns taken down by Meta demonstrates this. While one campaign relied on copying and pasting posts without disguising their origin, the other campaign involved posing as journalists, lawyers, and activists. This range of tactics makes it challenging to develop a single playbook to counter Chinese influence operations.<\/p>\n
Meta did not attribute the Chinese networks to any specific actor in China. However, the company has previously attributed disrupted operations to the Chinese government, IT firms, and Chinese law enforcement. With numerous elections scheduled for 2024, including in the U.S., Taiwan, India, and the European Union, Chinese influence operations may shift their focus to discussions on relations with China in these regions. Meta’s global threat intelligence lead, Ben Nimmo, emphasized the importance of being cautious when engaging with political content online, as heightened partisan tensions can play into the hands of foreign threat actors.<\/p>\n
Meta’s report also highlights Russia’s continued status as the most prolific source of coordinated influence operations. Russian operations have primarily focused on undermining international support for Ukraine since the country’s invasion in 2022. However, a recent Russian operation known as Doppelganger has launched websites that question U.S. democracy and portray the war between Israel and Hamas as proof of American decline. Meta is actively blocking these websites from its platforms and sharing the list of associated domains with other companies.<\/p>\n
The report also mentions the challenges faced by tech companies in countering foreign interference online. Efforts to share information and coordinate countermeasures with civil society groups, researchers, and federal agencies have come under legal and political pressure. Republicans have criticized these efforts, claiming they amount to illegal censorship. Additionally, the U.S. government has paused sharing information about foreign election interference since July due to a federal judge’s injunction, which has had a chilling effect on collaboration.<\/p>\n
China’s increasing online social media influence operations, as highlighted by Meta’s report, raise concerns about foreign interference and manipulation on digital platforms. The diverse tactics employed by China-based networks make it challenging to counter their influence effectively. With upcoming elections in several countries, the threat of foreign influence operations targeting discussions on relations with China is expected to grow. It is crucial for individuals and political groups to be aware of the risks and to approach political content online with caution. The report also underscores the ongoing challenges faced by tech companies and governments in countering foreign interference while navigating legal and political pressures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reveals that China has intensified its efforts to manipulate people on social media platforms, making it the third most prevalent source of foreign influence operations after Russia and Iran. China has significantly increased its online social media influence operations, according to a report published by Meta, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}