Operation "Spamouflage": China-linked influence activity

This case study was originally published in OpenAI’s May 2024⁠(opens in a new window) report.

Actor

We banned a small number of accounts associated with the China-origin operation known as “Spamouflage”⁠(opens in a new window). This operation has been attributed by Meta⁠(opens in a new window) to “individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement”. Some of this operation’s social media activity was attributed by the FBI⁠(opens in a new window) to a unit within China’s Ministry of Public Security.

Behavior

This network targeted global audiences, especially members of the Chinese diaspora and critics of the Chinese government. It mainly generated content in Chinese and, to a lesser extent, English, Japanese and Korean.

The network used our models to debug code, seek advice on social media analysis, research news and current events, and generate content that was then published on blog forums and social media.

For example, in 2023 the network used our models to debug code setting the WordPress theme for a website, revealscum.com. This website published Chinese-language criticisms and personal information about members of the Chinese diaspora who criticized the Chinese government. It termed these critics “traitors”. The content itself was not generated using our models.

This campaign also used our models to create content that was then posted on social media platforms and forums. For example, in late 2023 the operation generated articles that accused Japan of damaging the marine environment by releasing wastewater from the Fukushima power plant. We identified the articles on platforms including Medium, Blogspot, and ameblo.jp.

In April 2024, the campaign ran a series of comments in English that criticized Chinese dissident Cai Xia. We identified one X account that posted the initial comment and a cluster of other accounts that posted the rest of the comments as replies. We did not see any real accounts replying to them.

Content

Impact assessment

Indicators

• revealscum.com