Falsos Amigos
Network of Domains and Social Media Accounts Uses AI Tools to Launder Reports From Chinese State Media Outlet CGTN in Multiple Languages
- Graphika identified a network of 11 domains and 16 companion social media accounts that laundered exclusively English-language articles originally published by the Chinese state media outlet CGTN. The identified accounts are active on Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, and X.
- The assets almost certainly used AI tools to translate and summarize articles from CGTN, likely in an attempt to disguise the content's origin.
- The network assets disseminated primarily pro-China, anti-West content in English, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese. They also utilized AI tools to generate logos and text specifically designed to target different audiences, including young audiences in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe.
- The network’s social media accounts failed to receive any organic traction. On Facebook, we identified pages that are part of the network and ran ads to promote their content and increase their visibility. On X, posts from the associated accounts appeared in top search results for some topics.
- We could not attribute these domains and their related accounts to a specific actor(s) based on open-source information. We assess that the actor(s) behind the activity are very likely located in China based on the technical indicators of the domains and social media accounts.
Margot Fulde-Hardy researches Chinese online influence operations targeting global audiences. Additionally, she conducts investigations related to foreign information manipulation and interference campaigns targeting electoral contexts. Margot is also a FIMI-ISAC member and co-chair of OASIS Open source project DAD-CDM technical steering committee, where she supports the research on creating a common data model for FIMI campaigns, drawing on her expertise on STIX, TTPs, and OpenCTI.
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