Meta announced on Tuesday that it discovered and removed thousands of Facebook accounts spreading pro-China messaging and Western criticism. The “Spamoflauge” operation spread across over 50 platforms including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X.
Meta Global Threat Intelligence Lead Ben Nimmo called the effort the “largest, though unsuccessful, and most prolific covert influence operation…in the world today.” He added Meta was able to definitively link the campaign to Chinese law enforcement. The network of 7,700 Facebook accounts and 15 Instagram accounts regularly praised China and its Xinjiang province, home of China’s Uygur population. The accounts criticized the United States, other Western nations, and journalists and researchers perceived as hostile to the Chinese government. The campaign specifically targeted the U.S., Taiwan, Australia, Britain, Japan, and the global Chinese-speaking population. Meta’s policies against coordinated deceptive behavior were used to take down the accounts, which were likely operated by workers with daily job schedules.
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