“Beijing-Backed Trolls Target U.S. Voters as Election Nears”

WSJ:

Chinese government-backed trolls are targeting U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election, assuming fake identities of politically engaged voters on social media to promote divisive narratives around issues including gun control, racial inequality and the Israel-Hamas war, according to new research. 

The propaganda push, which researchers attributed to a prolific influence network known as Spamouflage that has been previously linked to the Chinese government, has sought to undermine confidence in U.S. elections, a new report said. The push has been somewhat agnostic on the candidates themselves, targeting former President Donald Trump and both Democratic presidential nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden before he exited the race.

“One of the world’s largest covert online influence operations, an operation run by Chinese state-linked actors, has become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and sway U.S. political conversations ahead of the election,” said Jack Stubbs, chief intelligence officer at the research firm Graphika, which published the report Tuesday on Spamouflage’s alleged activities

On one account on TikTok, a persona assuming the identity of a conservative U.S. news outlet called the Harlan Report published videos that collectively accrued millions of views and generally attacked Democrats. While most videos earned only thousands or tens of thousands of plays, others achieved minor liftoff. 

The most popular one was posted on July 10, had 1.5 million views and shows a Fox News clip of Biden speaking at a recent NATO summit in Washington. It mischaracterizes his remarks to make him look incoherent. Text overlaying the video reads, “Biden: ‘I realized I was *** your wife’?” In the clip, Biden says he realized he was “talking to your wife,” but the text implies a naughtier quip.

Reached for comment on TikTok, the account declined to identify itself and said its YouTube and Instagram pages were blocked for supporting Trump. 

“In your world, I am a clown,” the account said, using sometimes broken English. “Sorry, You cannot know my identity, nobody ensure my safety.”…

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