Chinese Networks Mimic US Netizens to Create Disinformation

An investigation into Chinese disinformation networks targeting American voters has uncovered fake social media handles created using artificial intelligence (AI) that are seeking to influence political debate in the United States.

When he first appeared on social media, a user known as Harlan claimed to be a 29-year-old New Yorker and Army veteran who supported Donald Trump for president. A few months later, Harlan underwent a transformation. He now claimed to be 31 and from Florida.

A new investigation into Chinese disinformation networks targeting American voters shows that Harlan’s claims were as fictitious as his profile picture, which analysts believe was created using AI.

Whoever or wherever he is, Harlan is a small part of a larger effort by America’s adversaries to use social media to influence and subvert political debate in the country, the Associated Press (AP) reported today.

The account was attributed to Spamouflage, a Chinese disinformation group, by analysts at Graphika, a New York-based company that monitors online networks.

Known to researchers for years, Spamouflage earned its name from its habit of spreading large amounts of seemingly unrelated content alongside disinformation.

"One of the world's largest covert online influence operations -- one run by Chinese state actors -- has become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and influence the U.S. political conversation ahead of the election," Jack Stubbs, Graphika's director of intelligence services, told the AP.

Intelligence and national security agencies have already revealed that Russia, China and Iran have mounted online influence operations targeting U.S. voters ahead of the November election.

Russia remains the main threat, intelligence officials say, although Iran has become more aggressive in recent months, secretly supporting U.S. protests against the war in Gaza and attempting to hack into the email accounts of campaign operatives for both presidential candidates.

 China, however, has taken a more cautious approach. Beijing sees little benefit in supporting one presidential candidate over another, intelligence analysts say. Instead, China’s disinformation efforts have focused on campaign issues that are particularly important to Beijing — such as U.S. policy toward Taiwan — while seeking to undermine confidence in the election, voting and the United States in general. U.S. officials say this is a long-term effort that will continue long after Election Day, as China and other authoritarian nations try to use the Internet to undermine support for democracy. Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu dismissed Graphika’s findings as “bias and malicious speculation” and said “China has no intention and will not interfere” in the election. Platforms such as X and TikTok have already removed several accounts linked to Spamouflage after questions were raised about their authenticity. 

“We will continue to remove misleading accounts and harmful misinformation while protecting the integrity of our platform during the U.S. election,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to the AP today.