Chinese trolls launch coordinated attacks on Trudeau and other Canadian figures

Canada has revealed that it has discovered a disinformation campaign believed to be connected to China, which targeted numerous Canadian politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The campaign, known as "spamouflage," involved a series of online posts aimed at discrediting Canadian Members of Parliament (MPs) and silencing criticism of Beijing. Global Affairs Canada, responsible for monitoring foreign state-sponsored disinformation efforts, detected the campaign in August. The campaign utilized a bot network that left thousands of comments on social media accounts belonging to Canadian politicians, accusing them of criminal and ethical violations. Additionally, the spamouflage campaign incorporated "deep fake" videos, digitally altered using artificial intelligence to specifically target individuals. Canadian intelligence agencies have previously accused China of interfering in Canada's elections, and this disinformation campaign is the latest development in this ongoing issue. Spamouflage campaigns employ social media accounts, often newly created or hijacked, to spread propaganda across various platforms. These include popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, and TikTok, as well as professional networking site LinkedIn. The same accounts involved in this campaign also spread disinformation about the Hawaii wildfires in August, falsely claiming they were caused by a secret US military weather weapon. Alongside the Prime Minister, the campaign targeted Conservative opposition leader Pierre Polievre and other members of Trudeau's cabinet. Global Affairs Canada has informed the affected social media platforms, resulting in the removal of much of the activity and network. The department has also advised and alerted the targeted politicians on how to protect themselves and report any suspected foreign interference. Officials believe that the bot network behind this campaign could be connected to a larger and well-known spamouflage network previously reported by tech giants Meta and Microsoft. This network has been studied by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, which assisted Canada in its assessments. In response to such incidents, Canada launched a foreign interference inquiry in September to investigate any meddling in its elections by China, Russia, or other actors. The Chinese embassy in Canada has been contacted by the BBC for comment on these allegations.