Pro-China social media campaign gains traction with Capitol riot content: Report

A vast social media network of pro-China fake accounts leveraged the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol to amplify anti-American content internationally, according to a new study from social media research firm Graphika.

Researchers observed the pro-China network, which Graphika calls “Spamouflage,” growing increasingly hostile and confrontational toward America in the last six months. The content also made inroads to new audiences.

“The network’s successes are still sporadic — a few tweets have reached viral influencers, and a few dozen videos on YouTube channels have garnered significant followings — but, for the first time, its content has had measurable reach,” said Graphika researchers Ben Nimmo, Ira Hubert and Yang Cheng in their summary of the report. “Moreover, the audiences it has reached are widespread and include influencers in Latin America, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.” 

Graphika researchers wrote that the Spamouflage network and Chinese Communist Party produced similar messaging as they sought to leverage the Capitol riot to build anti-American sentiment online.

“The Jan. 6, 2021, storming of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., by pro-Trump mobs was a godsend for Chinese government messaging,” wrote Graphika researchers in the report published Thursday. “For Spamouflage operators as well, the riots presented a golden opportunity to gleefully declare — with ample visual evidence — that ‘American-style democracy’ is on its deathbed.”

The Spamouflage network amplified videos describing the Capitol riot as a “beautiful sight” in a reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s previous commentary about pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. After President Biden’s inauguration, Spamouflage videos branded American democracy as hypocritical and defended China’s sanctioning of U.S. public officials.

The pro-China influence peddlers did not aim their attack at one political party, slinging mud at Democrats and Republicans alike.

“After President Biden’s inauguration, Spamouflage’s messaging continued to attack the outgoing Trump administration, while also attacking the Democratic Party (whom it accused of ‘one-party’ mentality),” Graphika’s researchers wrote. “The prevailing message, as before, was of overall American decline, if not absolute disintegration, coupled with the inability of the ruling parties to solve the country’s problems.”

While the Capitol chaos provided fodder for the campaign, Graphika also observed the pro-China network pushing vaccine disinformation to sow doubt about the utility of U.S.-developed coronavirus vaccines.

The Graphika researchers assessed that the vaccine-focused disinformation campaign was prompted by widely reported press coverage of Chinese vaccine development efforts, which were reported to have a lower efficacy reading than those developed in the U.S. and reflected poorly on China.