Meta has disclosed that it took action to shut down almost 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups, and pages linked to a Chinese political spam network. This network has been targeting users not only in Australia but also across various other regions. The investigation initiated by Meta dates back to 2019, aligning its findings with those of research groups like the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi), which introduced the term "Spamouflage."

As per the report released by Meta, the company removed a total of 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 pages, 15 groups, and 15 Instagram accounts. All of these accounts were found to be in violation of the company's policy against inauthentic behavior. Remarkably, around 560,000 accounts were following one or more of these pages. Meta indicated that these pages were likely procured from spam operators, with the campaign having spent $3,500 on Facebook ads.

Meta clarified that the network originated in China and had a global reach, targeting regions such as Taiwan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Chinese-speaking audiences worldwide. This operation spanned across more than 50 platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, Medium, Blogspot, Livejournal, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.

While Meta discovered the network's activity emanating from China, it identified a pattern where a substantial number of accounts seemed to operate from a shared location, possibly an office. These accounts exhibited specific activity bursts during morning and afternoon hours in Beijing time, often aligned with lunch and dinner breaks.

The Spamouflage network primarily focused on posting positive content about China and Xinjiang province while also criticizing the US, Western foreign policies, and critics of the Chinese government, including journalists and researchers. Notably, the campaign shifted its focus from major platforms like Facebook and Twitter to smaller sites after facing identification and blocks in 2019.

One of the significant campaigns conducted by this operation aimed to assert that the US was the source of Covid's origin. It included the publication of a 66-page "research paper" riddled with consistent misspellings of key names. This paper was promoted through videos on YouTube and Vimeo, followed by an article citing the research and embedding the videos. The content was then distributed across various platforms and social media.

Despite the extensive use of accounts and platforms, Meta observed that the Spamouflage operation struggled to extend beyond its own fabricated echo chamber. Many comments on the posts were found to originate from other Spamouflage accounts, apparently trying to inflate their popularity. Meta attributed this to inadequate quality control and the fact that the acquired pages often had no relevance to the campaign's actual focus.

This operation was one of five detailed in Meta's quarterly report, alongside campaigns originating from Russia, Iran, and Turkey. As per Aspi's earlier report, Chinese Communist Party influence operations were likely carried out by multiple Chinese party-state agencies, including the PLA's strategic support force, the Ministry of State Security, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Cyberspace Administration of China. These agencies at times appeared to collaborate with private Chinese companies.

Image source: Indian Express