Meta Uncovers Largest-Ever Chinese Influence Network
TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest and X, formerly Twitter. Meta said the operation, known in the security community as “Spamouflage," dated back to 2019 and was linked to individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement. Meta said the China network was pushing positive commentary about the country as well as criticism of the U.S.
and western foreign policies. It was run by operators dispersed across China, and many of the accounts were detected and disabled by the company’s automated systems. Meta said this likely led to posting on smaller platforms and trying to amplify the content to larger services.
“We have not found evidence of this network getting any substantial engagement among authentic communities on our services," Meta said. The Chinese government has broadly denied targeting the U.S. with online influence campaigns or disinformation.
Likewise, Russia has previously denied trying to influence U.S. elections. Representatives at both the Chinese and Russian embassies in Washington didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The takedown was the seventh that Meta said it has removed from China over the past six years. It was also one of several around the globe that Meta said it recently completed, including the disruption of Doppelganger, the largest and most aggressive Russian operation the company has seen. That campaign, which was focused on weakening support for Ukraine by its allies, entailed operators posting links to websites resembling real news outlets and containing pro-Russia narratives.
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