China is behind the largest known covert propaganda operation ever identified on Facebook and Instagram, according to a new report by security researchers at Meta.
Meta on Tuesday outed the authors of a four-year long influence campaign dubbed “Spamouflage Dragon,” which first appeared in 2019 to spread propaganda about Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Since then, the campaign has focused on spreading disinformation about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, attacking dissidents and critics abroad, criticizing the United States, and attempting to sow division during the 2022 midterm elections.
For years, researchers have speculated that the voluminous Spamouflage Dragon posts were connected to the Chinese government but have been unable to publicly prove a link until now. The link comes courtesy of overlapping content found in both Meta’s report and charges filed against Chinese intelligence operatives back in spring.
Fair enough. Climate change was a bad example. Maybe I could have said something like aliens. I’m far from an expert on anything to do with anything related to aliens, but I’m willing to recognize that it’s an open question. Similarly, I’m not really saying we should imagine we have the answer with Covid, I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with recognizing that it’s an open question. In one of my first comments in this thread in fact (I have apparently been talking to multiple people and not always realizing they’re different…), I stated up front that I doubt we’ll ever have an answer. I suppose the point has been belabored quite a bit at this point. I appreciate your insights and that you took the time to share them without getting too… um… Reddity?