China is behind the largest known covert propaganda operation ever identified on Facebook and Instagram, according to a new report by security researchers at Meta.
Meta on Tuesday outed the authors of a four-year long influence campaign dubbed “Spamouflage Dragon,” which first appeared in 2019 to spread propaganda about Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Since then, the campaign has focused on spreading disinformation about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, attacking dissidents and critics abroad, criticizing the United States, and attempting to sow division during the 2022 midterm elections.
For years, researchers have speculated that the voluminous Spamouflage Dragon posts were connected to the Chinese government but have been unable to publicly prove a link until now. The link comes courtesy of overlapping content found in both Meta’s report and charges filed against Chinese intelligence operatives back in spring.
I’ll assume there is a long list of influential Americans that got paid.
maybe a short list of people running social media platforms, getting paid under the table
I hope you aren’t implying that the company that released this report linking spam to the Chinese government is actually taking bribes from the Chinese government, because that would just be silly lol.
If you mean other platforms like Reddit and Twitter… maybe, but I still think it’s unlikely. I’m sure it’s a lot cheaper to let accounts be blocked and create new spam accounts than to actually pay off platforms to let those spam accounts exist, especially because moderation on social media platforms has always been a very difficult thing to get right.
i’ll bet a suitcase full of Chinese cash could find someone to help them, wherever they needed it, in any of those operations
Uh, sure, maybe, but my point is why give away suitcases full of cash when you don’t need to
i don’t know… it’s an intelligence operation, they use all vectors that are available and functioning… it’s not a business… i guess we’ll see how comprehensive it’s been…
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Don’t attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity. A lot of these people are very stupid.
So apparently they really suck at it? That’s kind of hilarious
The trolls have demonstrated a weak command of idiomatic English with articles that, while prolific, often misspell key names or use English and Mandarin interchangeably. Other posts — like a critique of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August 2022 trip to Taiwan — appear long after the events they purported to preview.
At other times, the spammers attempted to push niche and esoteric Chinese propaganda talking points onto unreceptive audiences by piggybacking on clickable search engine optimized headlines. In one case cited by Meta researchers, Spamouflage Dragon trolls filled the replies of social media forum questions like “How do I lose belly fat through weight lifting?” with propaganda articles about “Chinese Police Strengthening International Law Enforcement Cooperation.”
They don’t mention what the propagandists push about COVID. The usual line from weirdo propagandists is that COVID is a secret bioweapon and was released from the Wuhan labs intentionally. I assume China wouldn’t sign on to that one? Do they just push the scientific consensus, which is that the origin is unknown but is probably natural, and possibly an unintentional lab leak? Or an exaggeration thereof which completely discounts the lab leak theory but still asserts what is most probable – it’s from animals? That’s pretty weak sauce for propaganda. Maybe they push some nuance about COVID that only the Chinese government cares about. Or maybe they go buck wild and say it was developed by NATO biolabs in Ukraine.
So in the report by Meta, they go into a little more detail. One post in particular claimed that Fort Detrick is the origin of Covid. Fort Detrick is located in Maryland, and a quick google shows that it hasn’t worked on biological weapons since the late 60s.
So basically they tried to do what Russia did but worse
Idk if this is propaganda or just some fucking idiot online LMAO
I don’t imagine that the boss of whoever would be responsible for this supposed project would look at the responses and go “yep, looks about right”
It’s not like being bilingual is that rare in intelligence positions in China. The evidence for being state-sponsored is weak.
Consensus has always been likely lab leak,higher ups were just covering for fauci and his involvement in funding the lab. And others were silenced by the whole “lab leak theory is racist” mob.Edit: Why am I getting downvoted? Have yall not been keeping up on the news on the topic. Am I misinformed?
Yes. You are misinformed.
Would… you… mind… sharing your source of information? I don’t recall precisely where I got my information from, but it was definitely along the lines of CNN/MSNBC/NYT and not Breitbart or Trump, jic its that cultural identity that people are downvoting.
Can you give me a source from CNN/MSNBC/NYT where the meat market origin was created to cover up for Fauci? Your entire premise, save the idea that a lab “might” have been the source, is all conspiracy theory and not at all consensus.
The most recent lab leak stuff, as far as I’m aware, which did make the news was a thing published by some federal agency detailing the lab leak. However, what they didn’t (and rarely do) report was that it had a low confidence rating. It was basically them exploring the idea, but they don’t believe that was the cause. Just one possible cause out of many.
My understanding was that “low confidence” meant more like 51% chance… not 1% chance. And even that is a far cry from what most liberals are willing to even discuss.
I just wish we could actually have more discussion on these things, but everyone just lumps everything into good guys vs bad guys. If you don’t instantly 110% agree with me, ur the bad guy.
I’m just a fucking guy. And so are most people.
Basically, it means not reliable. It’s not a percentage thing, just a thing that says we can’t verify much, if any, of what was said. Someone said it though.
I don’t think a possible lab leak has been ruled out, however, my understanding is that we really just don’t know (at least publicly).
I think the downvotes are a reaction to the amount of COVID-19 misinformation that has been pumped out over the years, with the lab leak theory being pushed by people who didn’t even believe in COVID in the first place.
The lab leak theory has never Bene more than a theory and there has certainly been no scientific consensus in favor of it.
While I’m open to the lab leak (on accident) theory, pointing the blame at one guy, Fauci, for funding them is really a bad basis for the idea. You’ve probably been misinformed at some point in yoir search for answers.
Looking back for sources, I think it was a Johnny Harris video that I’m thinking of. And while he’s done some work for NYT, this piece wasn’t done for them. also his bias and factuality, I now see, are questionable.
Still, I’ve got to be at least a little questioning of scientific leaders like Fauci who will tell us what he thinks we need to hear for our own good. Like he told us not to wear masks. His current reasoning is because he learned more about the virus and updates his view on masks… but his initial reasoning was to protect the supply of masks for healthcare workers.
I really wish he didn’t do that, because it’s people like him I look to to understand all the research, and explain it to us. When I read about the situation, the parts I understand at least…. Largely comprise of circumstantial evidence that is explained away by experts. Experts with an interest if GoF research, experts who … fuck man…. I’m tired and I’m not going to convince anyone that they should even do as much as be 1% more skeptical.
I read several NYT and CNN articles, I read through much of this Snopes piece, watched some recent BBC commentary… and I’m just not sure anyone should be so certain in either direction about the origin of Covid.
Just don’t lump me in with covidiots saying there are microchips in the vaccines.
Just don’t lump me in with covidiots saying there are microchips in the vaccines.
Of course not! We’ve all come across misinformation on this topic. It’s unavoidable. Even now I have questions about current messaging, new strains, etc. It’s so shit.
as much as be 1% more skeptical.
Nobody just trusts what they read anymore, whether its the news or the state. I wish I could be 1% less skeptical, I’d still be perfectly fine.
Like he told us not to wear masks.
This does seem like a huge fuck-up in hindsight. Thankfully while Fauci is still a popular interview guest, he’s no longer in charge.
Jeanne Marrazzo will take NIAID lead, NIH Lead Hearing is Delayed
I’ve never understood the resistance to discussing the origins of Covid. It’s pretty important for understanding possible future risks. As far as being racist, I don’t get that either. We have to be able to criticize other nations regardless of who they are. I have a lot of respect for what China has done over the last few decades, it doesn’t mean they might not have screwed up and leaked a deadly disease out of a lab.
The reality is that we’ll probably never know for sure what happened because China blocked anyone else from investigating until long after the fact.
The lab leak theory isn’t racist, but lots of racists really love pushing it. And even if it was true, it wouldn’t mean anything. China was doing research on the viral strains they are most vulnerable to and it got out… so what? It was already in the wild. That’s the point of research.
Now if someone had actual proof it was a bioweapon program, that would be worth talking about, but no one does.
You don’t think that a lab leak might suggest a need for more robust standards at such labs? It’s flawed to suggest that there aren’t differing future mitigation implications depending on how Covid started.
As far as racists clinging to certain theories, that doesn’t preclude rational people from talking about them as well. It’s the same kind of reasoning that produces arguments like, “Well, we can’t criticize Israel, because… Nazis!”
And, frankly, I have always found the idea that Covid started in a wet market much more racially charged than the idea of a lab leak.
The reasoning doesn’t make sense to me on multiple levels.
Even if it was a protocol failure, they’d have fixed it afterwards.
The obsession with the theory with no proof is just conspiracy thinking at best, for what? They’re fucking genociding millions of people as it is, why is a potential accident the issue at hand?
That’s what doesn’t make sense to me.
We have proof of a genocide, but the viral outbreak we’ve known was coming for twenty years is the problem?
Yeah, I just think the resistance to even discussing it is very strange. Not suggesting conspiracy, just good old fashioned human irrationally.
The problem, to me, is that the wet market in Wuhan has been studied for decades as a possible location where a viral outbreak could happen. And china shit it down for a short time but let it reopen. And scientists are just right back to studying this dangerous petri dish.
Edit: Scientists and science journalists have shared this opinion, read good sources.
The possible origins should be discussed. By experts. What kind of discussion are you looking for? I’m not a bioweapons expert. Are you? What possible conclusion can we come to that actual experts might not have considered?
I just see this idea that everyone’s viewpoint is equivalently valid everywhere and it drives me crazy. This is a scientific question. Real experts study this stuff their entire lives. The one guy with a Ph.D. in Microbiology has an opinion that’s worth more than a million random idiots with a keyboard and internet. Maybe instead of coming to our own conclusions, we listen.
Of course. Again, I just don’t understand the weird polarizing effect even bringing it up causes. By your own reasoning there would be almost nothing most of us average people should even talk about. I find that highly questionable as a blanket statement. We can certainly talk about what we think the experts should be considering without making our own conclusions about it.
Edit: Just to clarify, you mentioned bioweapons. I haven’t heard anything to support that. I just wanted to be clear. I’m not promoting any extreme theories or indeed any theory.
You totally misunderstood what I suggested. Your statement that we can’t discuss anything proves it.
There are a myriad of things we can discuss. Politics, religion, whether Kirk or Picard was better. None of these are provably right or wrong. However, if someone was dispensing medical advice or legal advice, I would hope you’d talk to a real expert. This is the same. I’m not qualified to determine what is right in regards to Covid’s origin so I listen to the consensus of experts.
But can we talk about climate change? Because we sure do. We talk about complicated economics topics, social issues, human biology… I just don’t see why the line is drawn at where Covid might have originated.
No. We can’t talk about whether climate change is real. There’s an overwhelming amount of evidence proving it’s happening. Where do we draw the line in your world? Do you suffer all the fools who don’t believe in gravity too? How about geocentrism? Flat earthers?
There’s no line at Covid. I’m saying there should be a line at hard sciences and questions that are verifiable. We can discuss whether gravity exists but it’s just wasted breath if neither one of us knows all that much about gravity.
What you should have posted was nothing.
Everyone interferes with our election cause we’ve let our citizens become dumb as fucking rocks.
We didn’t just let it happen, we made it happen.
I don’t know why the expectation exists that they should want to build an audience. You don’t need to build an audience to cause chaos. You just need the chaos message to generate enough noise to confuse people.
Or this is just the smoke screen actions and there are much more extensive actions that might actually be working on the rest of the platforms.
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Half a million people is a drop in the market by almost any measure.
Put it this way: if you had half a million followers on TikTok, would you be happy? Not really.
Except they’re not trying to monetize, so they don’t care. They’re trying to encourage disruption, which even one unstable individual can go out and do.
Given how close some of our recent elections have been, and in the closest one, how different the very straight-laced Al Gore and more cowboy/frat boy George W were, it doesn’t take many people to create a huge shift in how our country approaches things for a period of time.
One of the two rejected global warming, the other made a documentary about it, as an example of how different the candidates were.
No government is going to toss millions of dollars at a project that gets no results
Results for them has nothing to do with “an audience”. I have an audience right now, but I don’t have “an audience”. Do you understand the difference I’m referring to?
Not to mention all the Fentanyl precursors China has been pumping into other countries.
Reverse opium wars
What ever happened to those Hong Kong protests? I’m assuming they finally got shut down thanks to covid?
Unfortunately they failed to stop the CCP’s National Security Law and the electoral reform which now ensures only “patriots” can run for office (see wiki synopsis). Hong Kong, in a political sense, is now only nominally separate from China. Such a heart-breaking loss.
The CCP continued to escalate their response until continuing the protest was unfeasible.
This legislation is generally seen as the final nail in the coffin: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_national_security_law
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Meta on Tuesday outed the authors of a four-year long influence campaign dubbed “Spamouflage Dragon,” which first appeared in 2019 to spread propaganda about Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.
Federal prosecutors accused dozens of Chinese Ministry of Public Security officials of being behind a covert social media propaganda campaign in a criminal complaint filed in April.
In one video posted by the trolls, narrators urged viewers “not to vote for someone” and showed footage of January 6 rioters while claiming that “The solution is to root out this ineffective and incapacitated system.”
At other times, the spammers attempted to push niche and esoteric Chinese propaganda talking points onto unreceptive audiences by piggybacking on clickable search engine optimized headlines.
In one case cited by Meta researchers, Spamouflage Dragon trolls filled the replies of social media forum questions like “How do I lose belly fat through weight lifting?” with propaganda articles about “Chinese Police Strengthening International Law Enforcement Cooperation.”
The campaign’s lack of any audience development despite years of operation, dozens of personnel behind it, and thousands of pieces of content leads some to wonder why China even bothers with the trolling effort.
The original article contains 740 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Oh no really…
Anyway
Since the article didn’t link the report, I have it attached here: https://transparency.fb.com/integrity-reports-q2-2023/
As we always should do with these reports, let’s question the source:
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The lead author is Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow for Atlantic Council. According to testimony, “the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, and [others] all have inadequately-disclosed ties to the Department of Defense, the C.I.A., and other intelligence agencies. They work with multiple U.S. government agencies to institutionalize censorship research and advocacy within dozens of other universities and think tanks.” According to this internal CIA memo (accessible via FOIA), Atlantic Council fellows are almost all controlled by various US intelligence agencies and report to the director of the CIA.
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Ben Nimmo’s track record of identifying state-sponsored misinformation is spotty at best. A few years ago, the DFR wrote a hit piece that implicated Ian Shilling (a British retiree) as a Russian bot disinformation account. This led to the takedown of his account by Twitter… Which was rolled back soon after after he went to the news… He was then suspended under X, so go him I guess.
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Looking at the authors, we have Ben Nimmo (discussed above), Mike Torrey (previous NSA and CIA analyst), Margarita Franklin (has conspicuous 3 year gap between her masters graduation and her first job, quickly rising to the role of Director… which could be a coincidence), David Agranovich (ex-DOD, ex-National Security Council), and Margie Milam/Lindsay Hundley/Robert Claim (for all intents and purposes legitimate people focusing on IP and DNS). Given the large number of actual, non-government-affiliated cybersecurity researchers, the prevalence of ex-US intelligence on this report is rather startling.
Overall, there’s a stronger claim for this report being US propaganda (as shown above) than there is for some barely-intelligible sentences that look like they were written literally by idiots being Chinese propaganda… But who knows, maybe they’re both propaganda?
Overall, there’s a stronger claim for this being US propaganda
Why would the US want to cast doubt on their own voting system? Chinese interference or otherwise
It’s copium from whatever of the two parties is less popular at the time.
I’m saying the report is US propaganda, not the disinformation. The US needs a bogeyman, and it can’t be “some idiots in their mom’s basement”
I’ve edited the original post to clarify.
possibility that corporate interest want to cast doubt on the US state?
seems a bit silly to openly, at this point, say that the Chinese were pulling propaganda campaigns in the US before the current election, won by the guy whose platform wasn’t “massive trade war with China”
Red Scare propaganda to manufacture public consent for war with Russia and China
I am really glad you said this, even reading the first half of this I was ready to believe the headline/report to be true.
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Next time buy AMD…
I’ll shut the door on my way out.
I wanted to make AMD joke
💀
They believed the Gov. was about to expose their collusion in it, is my bet. An attempt to get ahead of the issue unlike in 2016.
They’re not guilty for the things their users do. Bad actors are all over Facebook, so revealing a government was using their platform for nefarious purposes is more like, “See? We can be good guys, too!” It’s positive PR to be proactive like that.
If you take them at their word, they didn’t realize the efforts were connected to the CCP. Which, since CCP is somewhat competent at online harassment, is believable.
There’s no guilt implied for Facebook when bad actors use the service in coordinated ways.
If my uncle can post crazy shit to Facebook, so can seemingly-random groups of people.
No shit.
There was so much of this around the “weather balloons” as well.
So, almost nothing about “election” save what’s in the excerpt? Clickbaity.
You’d think they would at least cite the report from Meta… RollingStone is back at it with their top tier journalism.
