Federal authorities say they have detected an information operation linked to the Chinese regime that seeks to influence Chinese Canadians’ perceptions about Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Mark Carney.
The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force said the information operation was “deliberately amplifying narratives in a coordinated and inauthentic way” on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.
“Specifically, various contrasting narratives were spread on WeChat about Mr. Carney – first amplifying the candidate’s stance with the United States, then targeting his experience and credentials,” authorities said in a statement.
The initial information came from an anonymous blog on WeChat called Youli-Youmian, said to be the most popular news account on the platform. WeChat’s parent company Tencent says its social media platform has 1.3 billion monthly users.
SITE said intelligence reporting has linked the Youli-Youmian account to the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. This powerful organ oversees the state security apparatus.
The SITE Task Force said it observed “large spikes” of what it believes is “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” in relation to articles posted by the WeChat account on March 10 and March 25. The campaign around the March 25 article was being boosted by 30 smaller WeChat accounts, leading to the articles reaching between 1 million to 3 million views, SITE said, which is much higher than content usually posted by Chinese state media.
“The SITE Task Force assesses that the foreign state-backed information operation was intended to influence Canadian-Chinese communities and look to mould perceptions about the candidate [Carney],” said Laurie-Anne Kempton, assistant secretary to the cabinet for communications with the Privy Council Office, during a press conference in Ottawa on April 7.
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Federal authorities provided links to the Chinese-language Youli-Youmian articles they said were part of Beijing’s information operation campaign.
The article identified as “amplifying the candidate’s stance with the United States” has multiple paragraphs lauding Carney’s experience as former governor of the central banks of Canada and the United Kingdom. The article says that even though Carney lacks political experience, he has an “ambitious” plan for economic recovery.
By Noé Chartier
