Microsoft has reported the identification of what they believe is a China-based influence campaign that has been aiming to undermine U.S. political hopefuls and masquerade as American voters on social media outlets. Per a Thursday announcement, the campaign has been making headway in achieving a legitimate connection with true consumers. Various platforms on social media have been the intended victims of Chinese-connected actions which are expected to serve the goal of disseminating deceitfulness and false news, as evidenced by investigators and the U.S. federal government. in the world
Microsoft said in a threat analysis report on Thursday that Chinese state-aligned influence and disinformation campaigns have become more sophisticated in their attempts to impersonate U.S. voters and target political candidates across multiple social media platforms. The report, which focused on the growing "digital threats from East Asia," found that these campaigns have been able to effectively engage with target audiences on social media to a greater degree than before, in part due to the use of generative artificial intelligence to create visuals which "already drew higher levels of engagement from authentic" users since March. Microsoft commented that these efforts have become more successful since the 2022 midterm elections.
The tech giant stated that campaigns from Chinese Communist Party actors were found on Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (formerly known as Twitter). Facebook's parent company Meta announced in August that it had uncovered a disinformation campaign linked to China and was the largest of its kind identified.
The report included screenshots of posts from April on X that featured the same graphic related to the Black Lives Matter movement, with one coming from an automated CCP account and another uploaded by an account posing as a conservative U.S. voter seven hours later. Microsoft mentioned similar operations carried out by the 912 Special Working Group, which is a part of China's national security apparatus and was identified by the Justice Department in April.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment.
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