Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and dozens of MPs have been targeted in a China-linked “spamflage” campaign, with a bot network leaving thousands of comments on their social media accounts and making malicious claims. It is carried out.
according to new statement According to information from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the federal government’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) detected the campaign, which traces its origins to the People’s Republic of China.
The campaign, which began in early August and “accelerated in scale” over the September long weekend, targeted MPs across the country and across political lines, posting comments in both English and French on Facebook and the ‘X’ account. did.
A large number of posts allege that critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Canada have accused targeted MPs of criminal and ethical violations, including the “possible use” of deepfake videos. Discovered by RRM.
Targets included Conservative leader Pierre Poièvre and several ministers, but the ministry said none of what GAC observed posed a security threat.
Campaign aimed at “defamation”
According to the government, “Spamflage is a tactic that uses a network of new or hijacked social media accounts to post and amplify propaganda messages across multiple platforms.”
The team, which monitors foreign state-sponsored disinformation in the online space, said the campaign’s objectives are likely to be:
- Using a popular Chinese-speaking persona to allege fraud, “discrediting and defaming” a lawmaker through what appears to be an organic post to the average user.and
- Urge members of Congress to distance themselves from critics, silence criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, and discourage other communities online from engaging with this person.
The same bot network has been used to spread disinformation in the past, and GAC has reached out to the social media site Meta and formerly known as Twitter to inform them of the latest activity. Most are in the process of being deleted.
In August, the same foreign interference surveillance system revealed it had detected “information operations” targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong on Chinese instant messaging platform WeChat.
What happened now?
The affected members of Congress were provided with a briefing with federal authorities about the findings of the investigation, and all members were informed about the campaign and provided with advice on how to protect themselves.
GAC warned that this type of campaign could undermine Canadian democracy and prevent members of parliament and diaspora communities from having their voices heard, and said it would continue to monitor future incidents.
However, Monday’s announcement gave no indication that the Canadian government plans to take further action regarding this “spamflage” campaign, noting that a public inquiry into foreign interference by China and other state actors is ongoing.
This is a developing story…check back for updates
