The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) cyber influence campaigns against Western democracies on social media have become more frequent, sophisticated, and effective in recent years, according to a new report. More Chinese government agencies, such as Chinese company Qi An Xin, have been involved.
Named “Gaming Public Opinion,” the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) included data collection spanning Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Sina Weibo, and ByteDance products. It reveals previously unreported CCP cyber influence operations, such as one called the “Spamouflage network,” in which inauthentic accounts are used to spread claims that the United States is irresponsibly conducting cyber-espionage operations against China and other countries….