Spamouflage trolls pretend to be American patriots on X, TikTok ahead of US presidential election
- Reference: 1725387308
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/09/03/spamouflage_trolls_us_elections/
- Source link:
The pro-People's Republic of China propaganda crew set up at least 15 accounts on X and one on TikTok claiming to be US patriots, according to a new report by social media analytics firm Graphika.
These fake personas include Harlan, an influencer and conservative news account spreading pro-Trump, MAGA narratives across both platforms, and "Abbey," an American "pure patriotic girl" on TikTok.
[1]
"In some cases, both personas have posted identical or near-identical copies of the same videos within hours of each other," according to the report
[2]PDF
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While Spamouflage, also tracked as " [5]Dragonbridge ," did attempt to sow doubt in the American political system during the [6]2022 midterm elections , since mid-2023 the China-linked accounts have expanded their talking points. These now cover a broader range of divisive social issues, including gun control, homelessness, drug abuse, racial inequality, and the Israel-Hamas conflict with the phony accounts on X and TikTok posting content about the hot-button issues in English and Chinese.
Plus, they've gotten [7]better at deepfakes and other AI-generated fake news.
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Some of the more recent AI content targeted President Joe Biden, Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and former President Donald Trump, we're told.
The trolls aren't particularly hard to spot between the images of flags and soldiers in bios posts along with awkwardly-phrased statements signaling disillusionment with American politics.
These include: "is the present America still our America?" or "is the current president our president?" Another phony account purported to be a US resident in a state that allowed abortion but worried about others in different states "denied their reproductive rights."
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The good news about the fake news, according to Graphika, is that these Chinese accounts are [10]still pretty pathetic .
"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," the authors wrote.
There was one exception, however: A Harlan Report TikTok video mocking Biden that was posted in July and has 1.5 million views to date.
[11]OpenAI is very smug after thwarting five ineffective AI covert influence ops
[12]Canada goosed as attackers shutter hospitals and China deepfakes its politicians
[13]Meta reckons China's troll farms could learn proper OpSec from Russia's fake news crews
[14]Elon Musk reins in Grok AI bot to stop election misinformation
As the November election approaches, Graphika's social media analysts expect to see Spamouflage continue amplifying American social divisions "to portray the US as a declining global power with weak leaders and a failing system of governance."
Plus, they expect that this and other Chinese information operations will continue to improve their generative AI tools to develop more believable fake personas online while also co-opting real social media influencers — and their online voices — to produce better quality content intended to fool a wider audience.
This report follows earlier takedowns of different [15]Spamouflage accounts on OpenAI attempting to influence the elections in May. And last year, [16]Meta and [17]Google shut down tens of thousands of accounts and pages across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other websites owned by the two tech giants. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZteHAWw1q7ksbMC_IZ8XPAAAAc4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphika-report-the-americans.pdf
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZteHAWw1q7ksbMC_IZ8XPAAAAc4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZteHAWw1q7ksbMC_IZ8XPAAAAc4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/dod_china_dragonbridge/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/27/chinese_misinformation_dragonbridge_elections/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/11/deepfake_news_anchors/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZteHAWw1q7ksbMC_IZ8XPAAAAc4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZteHAWw1q7ksbMC_IZ8XPAAAAc4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/30/meta_coordinated_inauthentic_behaviour_report/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/30/openai_stops_five_ineffective_ai/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/25/canadian_hospitals_spamoflague/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/30/meta_coordinated_inauthentic_behaviour_report/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/28/grok_election_misinformation/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/30/openai_stops_five_ineffective_ai/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/30/meta_coordinated_inauthentic_behaviour_report/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/27/google_tag_dragonbridge_takedown/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"pure patriotic girl"
Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apophthegm, at which many will start: ‘Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.’ But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest.
Johnson, quoted by Boswell
"...pretending to be patriots"
I mean... all the politicians are pretending to be patriots along with what seems like everyone on social media. Why not spammers?
Re: "...pretending to be patriots"
"pretending to be patriots"
And every single one wears an enamelled metal flag badge/pin on their lapel. It's well past the stage where it's meaningless now because not wearing one marks you out as a "traitor" or "commie" or something. It no longer means "patriot". It's just a club badge now. Sad really, especially for a country which takes it's flag so seriously to see it downgraded so much.
Authoritarianism
It's noteworthy that fundamentally all foreign interference is aimed at two goals: making the US more authoritarian and sowing dissent among the American populace. Discerning the rationale for both is simple and thus left as an exercise for the reader.
Re: Authoritarianism
"It's noteworthy that fundamentally all foreign interference is aimed at two goals: making the US more authoritarian and sowing dissent among the American populace. Discerning the rationale for both is simple and thus left as an exercise for the reader.”
No, I think the idea is to simply sow dissent, irrespective of whether this is left wind or right wing propaganda. From the prospective of a third party (cough, China, cough), it's irrelevant, what matters is that the US becomes obsessed with internal ‘stuff’ and ignores what is happening in the wider world. The CCP increases their influence, and rinse and repeat!
Tell me, at the current rate of expansion it is possible that within 20-25 years, China might be the dominant military force on the planet, imagine a situation where the US president in 20 years time bends over backwards to the Chinese president, because China is more powerful than the US!
No it’s not a compelling scenario is it?
Beijing-linked trolls :o
“ Spamouflage, the Beijing-linked trolls known for spreading fake news about American politics ” .. like the Trump pee tape and Hunters laptop files were fake. Oh wait that was a US operation.
if it's so obvious...
...it does make one wonder if this is just the camouflage for the "real" "fake" accounts that are doing the actual damage. These are easy to spot, so most think they are inept and there's nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, the real disinfo is far more subtle and anyway, the "inept" accounts aren't just cover and distraction, but still have a real effect on some of the more hard of thinking types anyway. Win-win.
So that's who posted...
So that's who posted all that stuff about Xi being a pedophile.