Canada has revealed the detection of a disinformation campaign believed to be linked to China, targeting numerous politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
This campaign, termed "spamouflage," utilized a barrage of online posts to discredit Canadian Members of Parliament, according to the country's foreign ministry. The objective appeared to be suppressing criticism of Beijing. China has consistently denied involvement in Canadian affairs.
Global Affairs Canada disclosed that its Rapid Response Mechanism, designed to monitor state-sponsored disinformation from foreign sources, identified a "spamouflage" campaign associated with Beijing in August.
This effort, which intensified in early September, employed a bot network to inundate the social media accounts of various Canadian politicians with comments in both English and French. These comments alleged that a critic of the Chinese Communist Party in Canada had accused the politicians of legal and ethical transgressions.
The campaign also featured the likely use of "deep fake" videos, digitally altered by artificial intelligence, targeting individuals. This is the latest in a series of allegations from Canadian intelligence agencies and officials asserting Beijing's interference in Canada's elections.
A "spamouflage" campaign employs a network of new or commandeered social media accounts to disseminate propaganda messages across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Medium, Reddit, TikTok, and LinkedIn. The same accounts were also involved in spreading misinformation about the Hawaii wildfires in August, falsely attributing them to a covert US military "weather weapon."
In addition to the Prime Minister, the campaign targeted Conservative opposition leader Pierre Polievre and several members of Mr. Trudeau's cabinet. Global Affairs Canada has notified the affected social media platforms, leading to the removal of a significant portion of the activity and network. The department has also informed the affected politicians, providing guidance on safeguarding themselves and reporting any suspected foreign interference.
Officials suggest that the bot network behind this campaign may be linked to a broader, well-known Spamouflage network previously acknowledged by tech giants like Meta and Microsoft. This network has also been examined by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank based in Canberra, which assisted Canada in its assessments.
Earlier in September, Canada launched an inquiry into foreign interference, tasked with investigating potential meddling in its elections by China, Russia, and other actors. The BBC has sought comment from the Chinese embassy in Canada.
