“The Chinese government has set up the world’s largest known online disinformation operation“, reports CNN, “and uses it to harass U.S. residents, politicians and businesses. “
CNN reports that disinformation operations “sometimes even threaten their targets with violence, according to a CNN review of court documents and public disclosures from social media companies.”
These attacks – often vile and deeply personal in nature – are part of a well-organized and increasingly brazen campaign of intimidation by the Chinese government targeting people in the United States, documents show. The US State Department says these tactics are part of a broader context. several billion dollars the effort to shape the global information environment and silence criticism of Beijing, which has grown under President Xi Jinping… Victims face a barrage of dozens of thousands of posts on social networks calling them traitors, dogs and racist and homophobic insults.
They say it’s all part of an effort to put them in a constant state of fear and paranoia. Often, these victims do not know where to turn. Some have spoken to law enforcement, including the FBI, but little has been done. While tech and social media companies have shut down thousands of accounts targeting these victims, they are outpaced by a multitude of new accounts emerging virtually every day. Known as “Spamouflage” or “Dragonbridge,” the network’s hundreds of thousands of accounts across all major social media platforms not only harassed Americans who criticized the Chinese Communist Party, but also sought to discredit American politicians, to denigrate American companies. contradicting China’s interests and hijacking online conversations around the world that could portray the CCP in a negative light.
Some figures from the article:
- Meta “announced in August that it had removed a group of nearly 8,000 accounts attributed to this group in the second quarter of 2023 alone.”
- YouTube owner Google “told CNN it has closed more than 100,000 associated accounts in recent years.”
- X “blocked hundreds of thousands of ‘state-supported’ or ‘state-linked’ Chinese accounts, according to company blogs.”
