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China is hacking into American democracy to influence elections.
Microsoft has published an analytical report claiming that Chinese influence and disinformation campaigns supported by the government have become more effective on social networks, imitating American voters and targeting political candidates.
Microsoft also warned that some Chinese campaigns are now using generative artificial intelligence to create visual content that has already attracted more activity from "authentic" users. This trend, according to Microsoft, began around March of this year.
Campaigns are becoming more effective
Microsoft notes that historically, Chinese influence campaigns have had difficulty attracting the attention of target audiences, in this case, American voters. However, since the US midterm elections in 2022, China's efforts have become more effective.
Microsoft has detected content from Chinese influencer campaigns on several services, including Facebook and Instagram from Meta, LinkedIn, and X. In August, Meta announced that it had managed to crack down on China's largest ever disinformation campaign .
The Microsoft report included screenshots of two different posts on X published in April and identified as "disinformation" supported by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Both posts were about the Black Lives Matter movement with identical images. The first one was published by a bot, and the second one (7 hours later) was published by an account imitating a conservative American voter. The Chinese Embassy in Washington has yet to comment.
Fake Social Media PostsX
The detected operations share common features with one allegedly run by an elite group of the Chinese national Police. The organization, the Project 912 Task Force, was identified by the U.S. Department of Justice in April as an organization created to target Chinese dissidents around the world, particularly in the United States.
Successful Chinese influence and disinformation campaigns can undermine Americans ' trust in their political institutions and increase social divisions, which in turn can lead to a deterioration in US-China diplomatic relations and an escalation in cybersecurity. It can also be a catalyst for stricter regulation of social media and increased investment in cybersecurity, and changing public opinion on key issues and increasing skepticism can have long-term psychological consequences.
Microsoft has published an analytical report claiming that Chinese influence and disinformation campaigns supported by the government have become more effective on social networks, imitating American voters and targeting political candidates.
Microsoft also warned that some Chinese campaigns are now using generative artificial intelligence to create visual content that has already attracted more activity from "authentic" users. This trend, according to Microsoft, began around March of this year.
Campaigns are becoming more effective
Microsoft notes that historically, Chinese influence campaigns have had difficulty attracting the attention of target audiences, in this case, American voters. However, since the US midterm elections in 2022, China's efforts have become more effective.
Microsoft has detected content from Chinese influencer campaigns on several services, including Facebook and Instagram from Meta, LinkedIn, and X. In August, Meta announced that it had managed to crack down on China's largest ever disinformation campaign .
The Microsoft report included screenshots of two different posts on X published in April and identified as "disinformation" supported by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Both posts were about the Black Lives Matter movement with identical images. The first one was published by a bot, and the second one (7 hours later) was published by an account imitating a conservative American voter. The Chinese Embassy in Washington has yet to comment.
Fake Social Media PostsX
The detected operations share common features with one allegedly run by an elite group of the Chinese national Police. The organization, the Project 912 Task Force, was identified by the U.S. Department of Justice in April as an organization created to target Chinese dissidents around the world, particularly in the United States.
Successful Chinese influence and disinformation campaigns can undermine Americans ' trust in their political institutions and increase social divisions, which in turn can lead to a deterioration in US-China diplomatic relations and an escalation in cybersecurity. It can also be a catalyst for stricter regulation of social media and increased investment in cybersecurity, and changing public opinion on key issues and increasing skepticism can have long-term psychological consequences.
