China Linked Spamouflage Network And The Us November Election

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 5, 2025, 10:00 PM

china linked spamouflage network and the us november election

FILE - A woman walks with her ballot to a vacant voting booth at City Hall in San Francisco, March 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) FILE - The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., on March 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — When he first emerged on social media, the user known as Harlan claimed to be a New Yorker and an Army veteran who supported Donald Trump for president.

Harlan said he was 29, and his profile picture showed a smiling, handsome young man. A few months later, Harlan underwent a transformation. Now, he claimed to be 31 and from Florida. New research into Chinese disinformation networks targeting American voters shows Harlan’s claims were as fictitious as his profile picture, which analysts think was created using artificial intelligence. 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... Olivier Guillard, China-linked 'Spamouflage' network and the US November election, Institut d'études de géopolitique appliquée, Paris, September 18, 2024.

The views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author. The illustrative image, which is free of rights, was chosen by the editorial team. 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... A network of fake online accounts, linked to a Chinese disinformation campaign, mimic Americans to spread fake or inflammatory news about US politics. Updated Sept.

04, 2024, 1:38 p.m. ET | Washington When he first emerged on social media, the user known as Harlan claimed to be a New Yorker and an Army veteran who supported Donald Trump for president. Harlan said he was 29, and his profile picture showed a smiling, handsome young man. A few months later, Harlan underwent a transformation. Now, he claimed to be 31 and from Florida.

New research into Chinese disinformation networks targeting American voters shows Harlan’s claims were as fictitious as his profile picture, which analysts think was created using artificial intelligence. A photo illustration of the TikTok logo next to U.S. and China flags. Researchers have uncovered more accounts tied to a Chinese influence operation known as "Spamoflauge" which includes an account on TikTok with one video that managed to get 1.5 million views before being taken down. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images hide caption A long-running Chinese influence operation is posing as American voters on social media in an attempt to exacerbate social divisions ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to a new report from the research...

The push by the campaign known as “Spamouflage” includes accounts claiming to be American voters and U.S. soldiers. They posted about hot-button topics including reproductive rights, homelessness, U.S. support for Ukraine, and American policy toward Israel. They criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as well as former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, and sometimes used artificial intelligence tools to create content. The group of fake accounts Graphika identified is small — 15 accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter), one on TikTok, as well as a persona impersonating a U.S.

news outlet across platforms. They claimed to be U.S. citizens or U.S.-focused activists “frustrated by American politics and the West,” the report said. With the exception of one TikTok video, they didn’t gain much traction with real users online. Still, the activity underscores how China is “engaging in these more advanced deceptive behaviors and directly targeting these organic but hyper-sensitive social rifts” as part of a broader effort “to portray the U.S. as this declining global power with weak political leadership and a failing system of governance,” said Jack Stubbs, Graphika’s chief intelligence officer.

When he first emerged on social media, the user known as Harlan claimed to be a New Yorker and an Army veteran who supported Donald Trump for president. Harlan said he was 29, and his profile picture showed a smiling, handsome young man. A few months later, Harlan underwent a transformation. Now, he claimed to be 31 and from Florida. New research into Chinese disinformation networks targeting American voters shows Harlan's claims were as fictitious as his profile picture, which analysts think was created using artificial intelligence. As voters prepare to cast their ballots this fall, China has been making its own plans, cultivating networks of fake social media users designed to mimic Americans.

Whoever or wherever he really is, Harlan is a small part of a larger effort by U.S. adversaries to use social media to influence and upend America's political debate. The account was traced back to Spamouflage, a Chinese disinformation group, by analysts at Graphika, a New York-based firm that tracks online networks. Known to online researchers for several years, Spamouflage earned its moniker through its habit of spreading large amounts of seemingly unrelated content alongside disinformation. When he first emerged on social media, the user known as Harlan claimed to be a New Yorker and an Army veteran who supported Donald Trump for president. Harlan said he was 29, and his profile picture showed a smiling, handsome young man.

A few months later, Harlan underwent a transformation. Now, he claimed to be 31 and from Florida. New research into Chinese disinformation networks targeting American voters shows Harlan’s claims were as fictitious as his profile picture, which analysts think was created using artificial intelligence. As voters prepare to cast their ballots this fall, China has been making its own plans, cultivating networks of fake social media users designed to mimic Americans. Whoever or wherever he really is, Harlan is a small part of a larger effort by U.S. adversaries to use social media to influence and upend America’s political debate.

The account was traced back to Spamouflage, a Chinese disinformation group, by analysts at Graphika, a New York-based firm that tracks online networks. Known to online researchers for several years, Spamouflage earned its moniker through its habit of spreading large amounts of seemingly unrelated content alongside disinformation. America's potential adversaries have been actively meddling in the 2024 presidential election, and that includes efforts directed from Beijing. Known as "Spamouflage," it reportedly utilizes fake social media accounts claiming to be American voters and even U.S. military personnel. It is a largely bipartisan effort—with some attacks directed at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, while others criticized former President Donald Trump.

The goal seems to be sowing division, and further dividing America politically. "Spamouflage is not the most sophisticated influence operation targeting the United States, but it is quite interesting from a strategic perspective. Until the last couple of years, the Chinese Communist Party was mostly focused on 'positive' in its propaganda. In other words, rather than trying to denigrate adversaries, their primary—though not sole—strategy was to make China look better both for domestic and international audiences," explained Dr. Craig Albert, graduate director of the Master of Arts in Intelligence and Security Studies at Augusta University. As with other misinformation and disinformation campaigns, it is about confusing issues, raising the volume in the process, and drowning out civil discussions.

It is hardly original, but China has a long history of copying from the best—and in this case it is Russia that created the template. "Spamouflage is interesting because it illustrates the Chinese Communist Party's shift from positive messaging to a narrative mirroring Russia and Iran: traditional information warfare targeting decision-making processes and influencing opinions of U.S. citizens to sow discord and spark potential riots, unrest, and violent protests if not more serious events," warned Albert. What is Canada’s new colour-coded alert system and how it will ensure public safety during extreme weather Canada launches new alert system for extreme weather; Colour-coded system marks shift to impact-based forecasting Canadian Olympic swimming champion Penny Oleksiak suspended for two years over anti-doping whereabouts failures

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China Linked Spamouflage Network And The Us November Election

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04, 2024, 1:38 P.m. ET | Washington When He First