CIA allegedly created fake social media accounts against China

The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a clandestine campaign on Chinese social networks in 2019, Reuters reported.

Authorized by Donald Trump when he was still the president of the United States, it aimed to turn public opinion Chinese public against its government by spreading rumors on its platforms.

A small CIA team created for this purpose allegedly created fake accounts on social networks to spread these rumors, such as allegations that members of the Communist Party were hiding fraudulent gains abroad. She also reportedly criticized Chinese government initiatives, saying for example that a program funding infrastructure projects in other countries was corrupt.

An operation beyond China

The aim of this operation was also to stir up paranoia among the country’s senior leaders and therefore force the government to devote resources to hunting down intrusions into the Internet which it closely controls.

With this campaign, the CIA was not only seeking to influence Chinese public opinion. Its agents have in fact used social networks to do the same in other countries where China and the United States compete for influence. They thus targeted public opinion in Southeast Asia, Africa and the South Pacific.

The CIA declined to respond to requests from Reuters, which could not confirm whether the program was still in place. For its part, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to his revelations by declaring that they prove that the American government uses “the space of public opinion and media platforms as weapons to disseminate false information and manipulate international public opinion”.