CIA allegedly made fake social media accounts to troll the Chinese government
www.theverge.com
The operation allegedly started in 2019.
  • loathesome dongeater@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    28·
    4 months ago

    CIA allegedly made fake social media accounts to troll the Chinese government

    They are calling this “trolling” if you were wondering about the state of western journalism

    • miz@lemmygrad.ml
      10·
      4 months ago

      yeah this gallup graph shows it even more starkly

      The effort, which began in 2019, has not previously been reported.

      EDIT: I guess this article is about propaganda aimed at Chinese nationals, but you know they’re doing it to Americans to so [shrugs]

    • hackerwacker@lemmy.ml
      9·
      4 months ago

      It’s my understanding that this operation targets Chinese users, not AUKUS users. However there are probably other undisclosed operations.

      Also let’s not forget that something else happened at the end of 2019.

  • RedClouds@lemmygrad.ml
    10·
    4 months ago

    Every time someone calls me a Chinese bot account i’ll just link this story and call them a CIA troll lol.

    Well that was on reddit anyway, not using that right now haha

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    9·
    4 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The CIA allegedly launched a secret operation to troll Chinese officials and turn public opinion against them through leaked intelligence and negative news on social media.

    Reuters reports the operation began in 2019 and was also aimed at causing paranoia within Xi Jinping’s government.

    CIA agents reportedly made fake social media accounts to spread rumors, such as allegations that Communist Party members hid ill-gotten wealth outside the country, and criticize Chinese government initiatives, like saying a program financing infrastructure projects in other countries was corrupt.

    China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which gave grants and loans for infrastructure projects, operates in developing countries in those regions.

    Russia has been accused many times of creating fake accounts and troll farms to influence public opinion in the US, with a former ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin admitting last year to founding a troll farm to meddle in US elections.

    Meanwhile, American politicians, in their quest to ban TikTok, claim the Chinese government could use the social media platform to spy on or influence users.

    The original article contains 274 words, the summary contains 172 words. Saved 37%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!