The researchers suggest that China is building a network of accounts for future information operations, potentially targeting the next U.S. presidential election. The impact of this misinformation campaign is hard to quantify, but early signs indicate that few social media users engaged with the most extreme conspiracy theories.
Key takeaways:
- China's influence campaigns have shifted from amplifying propaganda to more direct attempts to sow discord in the United States, according to researchers from Microsoft, the RAND Corporation, the University of Maryland, Recorded Future, and NewsGuard.
- The misinformation campaign involved false posts claiming that wildfires in Hawaii were caused by a secret "weather weapon" tested by the United States, with AI-generated images used to enhance the authenticity of the disinformation.
- The campaign was multilingual and operated across major social media platforms, suggesting a global audience was targeted. The AI-generated images used were found to be exclusively used by Chinese accounts involved in this campaign.
- Researchers suggest that China is building a network of accounts for future information operations, including the next U.S. presidential election. The impact of this misinformation campaign is difficult to measure, but early indications suggest limited engagement with the most extreme conspiracy theories.