China-linked 'Spamouflage' network and the US November election

By Olivier Guillard, a specialist in Asian issues, research associate at the Institut d'études de géopolitique appliquée, a researcher at CERIAS (Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada), Director of Information at CRISIS24 (Paris), and lecturer (geopolitics; political science) at EDHEC Business School (Lille).   

The Chinese communist regime's disinformation networks on social media are employing fake accounts to impersonate Americans, attack US candidates, and spread divisive content as the November presidential election approaches [1]. The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) social media influence operation is part of a disinformation campaign that analysts have dubbed "Spamouflage" or "Dragonbridge."

"Spamouflage'' [2] is an influence operation that US company Graphika [3] has monitored since 2019. It is active across more than 40 online platforms where it employs inauthentic accounts to seed and amplify videos and cartoons that promote pro-China and anti-Western narratives. Based on open-source indicators and assessments shared by industry partners, Graphika attributes this activity with high confidence to Chinese state-linked actors. According to specialists, Chinese state-linked influence operation (IO) Spamouflage has become more aggressive in its efforts to influence US political conversations ahead of the 2024 presidential election. This includes expanding its use of personas that impersonate US voters on social media platforms and spreading divisive narratives about sensitive social issues in the United States. "Spamouflage's tactics have evolved over the last five years, including engaging with broader geopolitical topics, producing content in multiple languages across mainstream and alternative social media platforms, experimenting with persona building, and leveraging AI tools to create content," the Graphika report explains.

Through its ATLAS intelligence reporting, Graphika identified 15 Spamouflage accounts on X (formerly Twitter) and one account on TikTok claiming to be US citizens and/or US-focused peace, human rights, and information integrity advocates frustrated by American politics and the West. Graphika also identified a cross-platform Spamouflage persona operating as an inauthentic US-focused media outlet. "In the run-up to the 2024 election, these accounts have seeded and amplified content denigrating Democratic and Republican candidates, sowing doubt in the legitimacy of the US electoral process, and spreading divisive narratives about sensitive social issues including gun control, homelessness, drug abuse, racial inequality, and the Israel-Hamas conflict," the report said.

This content, some of which was almost certainly artificial intelligence (AI)-generated, has targeted President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and, more recently, Vice President Kamala Harris. Despite attempts to masquerade as US users and engage with hot-button issues, the accounts failed to garner significant traction in authentic online communities discussing the election.

Graphika's latest report corroborates and builds on research published by London-based political advocacy think tank, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD [4]), in April 2024, which documented a set of four Spamouflage accounts on X posing as supporters of Trump and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement [5]. "In conjunction with ISD's analysis, our findings suggest that Spamouflage's attempts to pose as US users are more expansive than previously reported," Graphika stated.

Spamouflage and other Chinese IO actors will almost certainly continue their efforts to influence US political conversations throughout the 2024 presidential election cycle, leveraging social divisions in a polarized information environment to portray the US as a declining global power with weak leaders and a failing system of governance.

For many China experts, the CCP's online campaign aims to "intensify the confrontation." According to Tseng Yisuo, an associate researcher at the cybersecurity and decision-making division of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research [6] in Taiwan, "the CCP does not necessarily support a specific party or candidate, but targets both the Republican and Democratic camps through influence operations, incitement, and creating division [in society]." The CCP's ultimate goal is "to undermine the confidence of the people of democratic countries in their democratic system and the governance of democratic governments, and make people lose confidence in democracy," Yisuo added.

For retired Taiwanese Major General Yu Tsung-chi, an adviser to the Formosa Republican Association, no matter who wins the presidential polls in November, the United States will only take a tougher stance on the Chinese communist regime. "The consensus between the two parties in Congress is that the CCP is the main threat to the United States, [and] has replaced Russia. So the CCP's cyber army will now infiltrate both the Democratic and Republican camps to stir things up and attack the other party. The purpose is to intensify the confrontation between the two parties," he added. "The more divided the United States becomes, the weaker its power will be."

The ex-Taiwanese major general said that the CCP is trying to interfere with the US election because "if there is internal conflict after the US presidential election, or even bloodshed, it will paralyze the Congress."

Earlier, Mark Zuckerburg's Meta, the parent company of social networks Facebook and Instagram, said that it had removed Spamouflage activity from its platforms. The California-based multinational technology conglomerate said in a report in 2023 that it had identified that Spamouflage was backed by the Chinese regime's security agencies [7]. Elon Musk's X also suspended several of the accounts linked to Spamouflage [8], while Chinese internet company ByteDance-owned short-form video hosting service TikTok also removed accounts linked to the Spamouflage network [9], as per reports.

Meanwhile, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in a report on election interference released in July, said that China was "approaching this US presidential election more cautiously ... and probably does not plan to influence the outcome."

Nonetheless, reading these few examples of bad deeds caught red-handed (but in how many cases never detected, or far too late...) in the former Middle Kingdom, or even further north at the hands of its bellicose Russian ally, an uncomfortable hint of fatalism, if not pessimism, can't help but seize the reader, whether he or she is registered on the electoral rolls of the 2nd "largest democracy in the world [10]" or on the Vieux continent (Europe). With a very unpleasant feeling of not being able to change anything; and that's certainly where the problem lies.

[1] According to a report by New York-based intelligence company Graphika (The #Americans ; Sept. 3, 2024).

[2] Also tracked as Dragonbridge, Taizi Flood, and Empire Dragon.

[3] Graphika.com. A SAAS and managed services company. According to its website, ''Graphika leverages powerful AI technologies to map social media networks and deliver actionable intelligence''.

[4] www.isdglobal.org

[5] '' Pro-CCP Spamouflage campaign experiments with new tactics targeting the US'', ISD, April 1, 2024.

[6] www.indsr.org.tw

[7] ''Large-scale Chinese disinformation campaign dismantled by Meta'', Le Monde, Aug. 29, 2023.

[8] ''China-linked 'Spamouflage' network mimics Americans online to sway US political debate'', ABC news, Sept.3, 2024.

[9] ''TikTok removes 284 accounts linked to Chinese disinformation group'', The Guardian, Aug. 31, 2023.

[10] 161 million Americans (out of a total population of 345 million) are registered to vote.