The beginning: A digital tsunami

It was a normal Tuesday when Meta dropped a bombshell. Thousands of Facebook accounts – fingerprints of a large-scale Chinese operation called “Spamouflage”. Your order? To put China in the spotlight and put the West in a bad light. The scale of this covert operation is unprecedented, and while the numbers are impressive, the story behind it is just as interesting.

The Platforms: A Web of Deception

The digital world spans a variety of platforms – from Facebook and Instagram to TikTok and YouTube. The “Spamouflage” network knew how to use them all. The network was present on not just one but over 50 platforms, proving that no platform is safe, including X (formerly Twitter).

The methodology: praise, criticism and disinformation

A look inside this impressive network shows that China, and especially the province of Xinjiang, is praised and Western powers and their policies are criticized. The main players? Journalists, scientists and critics of the Chinese government.

Who can we trust?

With clusters of fake accounts operating in various parts of China and activities that resemble office work, one begins to wonder: who is really behind these screens?

Ben Nimmo, Global Threat Intelligence Lead at Meta, has linked Spamouflage to people connected to Chinese law enforcement.

Spamouflage: An international web of deception

The impact of the operation extends far beyond China's borders, affecting Taiwan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and Chinese-speaking communities around the world. But that's not enough. The meta-analysis highlights another threat – the Russian influence campaign aimed at weakening support for Ukraine.

Connections and parallels

Interestingly, some of the tactics used in China were similar to those of a Russian online fraud network in 2019. Do these networks learn from each other? Are they copying best practices? These are questions to which answers still need to be found.

The conclusion: an information age with two edges

At a time when information is more valuable than gold, we are faced with a new front of information wars and digital deception. Meta's recent revelations are just the tip of the iceberg. As tech companies continue to battle these invisible threats, it is up to us internet users to remain vigilant, check our sources and learn to distinguish between fact and fiction. Because in the digital age, truth is more valuable than ever.

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Source:

Meta: Q2 Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report , Meta

This might also be of interest:
EU tightens the reins: Facebook, TikTok and Co. under stricter supervision!
Why fake profiles on Facebook fall through the cracks
Gigantic cyber crime stopped: The network behind Qakbot


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )