China-Aligned Network Poses as Grassroots Voices in Effort to Covertly Boost Online Narratives Critical of US Tariffs and Trade Policies
Key Findings
- We identified a network of over 1,000 X accounts engaged in coordinated and inauthentic behavior in an effort to influence the online information environment around the U.S.-China trade war and global tariffs. This included using fake personas purporting to be users in the U.S. and other countries, stealing content from authentic users, and the coordinated amplification of hashtags and media articles.
- The network advanced narratives critical of U.S. trade policy, casting President Donald Trump’s tariffs as an act of economic self-injury that would hurt Americans and the global economy. Subsets of accounts in the network focused on the U.K., Canada, and Japan, framing these countries as resisting pressure and bullying from Washington.
- The network also seeded and amplified content that supports China’s geopolitical agenda on non-trade issues. This included criticism of U.S. forces stationed in Japan and promotion of Chinese government tourism initiatives.
- Based on open-source indicators, we were not able to attribute this activity to a known influence operation (IO) or specific actor. However, based on an analysis of content disseminated by the operation and similarities between the identified behaviors and past IOs attributed to Chinese state actors, we assess that the network operator(s) were very likely aligned with the interests of China.
- Despite an apparent de-escalation in tensions between the U.S. and China, we assess that efforts by these and other actors to covertly influence online conversations about U.S. trade policy and tariffs will almost certainly continue.