Look Who’s Using Social Media to Impersonate American Voters and Spread Divisive Narratives

A new report has found Chinese operatives are using social media platforms to impersonate American voters and spread divisive narratives about issues in the U.S., particularly social issues, and political conversations around the 2024 presidential election.

Graphika, a company that analyzes online social media behaviors, published their report titled “The #Americans” Tuesday, detailing how Spamouflage – a Chinese state-linked influence operation – has become increasingly aggressive on social media platforms, using personas disguised as Americans to sew divisive narratives.

Spamouflage is an influence operation first monitored by Graphika in 2019. Active on over 40 online platforms, it uses inauthentic accounts to promote pro-China and anti-Western narratives. Graphika determined the origins of the operation are linked to the Chinese government.

Graphika’s ATLAS intelligence reporting, which analyzes real-time intelligence and data, identified over a dozen accounts claiming to be American citizens, fifteen Spamouflage accounts were found on X, while one account was found on TikTok.

These accounts all claim to be American citizens, and have been found to be sowing doubt in the U.S. electoral process, while also targeting social issues like gun control, racial inequality, and the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Analysts state much of the content was likely generated through the use of artificial intelligence. (Read more from “Look Who’s Using Social Media to Impersonate American Voters and Spread Divisive Narratives” HERE)

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