China has been targeting lower-ballot races in America more and more, according to Washington Post analysis, and senior U.S. Intelligence officials. They are using fake social media accounts to spread antisemitic and divisive claims, and conspiracy theories, about politicians. This is part of a campaign to inflame tensions just a month before the election in 2024.

One covert operation focused on Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., who is running for his House seat. According to a Post review of thousands of posts, about 75 of them concerned Moore, a China-linked account called Moore “a Jewish Dog” and claimed he had won his primary due to “the bloody Jewish Consortium.”

Moore, the man who recently supported new sanctions against Chinese officials, does not identify as Jewish.

Spamouflage is China’s biggest known covert influence operation. It uses a variety of distribution methods to disseminate Chinese Communist Party talking-points across the Internet. The network, which has been active since 2017, has posted on over 40 platforms. This is according to digital forensics group Graphika.

The recent campaigns show a change in China’s approach, which is to actively influence the political discourse in the United States. Experts said that Chinese propaganda campaigns, which were once focused on promoting positive narratives of the CCP, are now increasingly taking part in local and national election and posting about hot-button U.S. issues such as Black Lives Matter, police violence and immigration.

Kenton Thibaut is a senior resident China Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. He said that we are “seeing [China’s] effort to go viral and drill into locally relevant topics.” It’s like going from a broad birdshot to a more focused sniper.

Researchers have found that the tactics of spamouflage are also becoming more sophisticated. Jack Stubbs said that the operation has become aggressive in anticipation of the 2024 elections by using highly realistic, fake accounts that mimic U.S. Citizens, Jack Stubbs Chief Intelligence Officer at Graphika stated.

He said that “what we’ve seen is an attempt to create a persona which misleads the public about who this account is.” “And this has been combined with an increased aggressiveness in terms of what they are seeding or amplifying.”

The Spamouflage account analyzed by The Post is increasingly posting about Israel-Gaza War, and spread divisive, sometimes hateful, rhetoric about Jews on X between July and August. This furthers the rise of antisemitic material on social media following Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

On July 24, an account on the network posted “Shouldn’t we be against Jews?” This was one of over 230 posts from Spamouflage accounts on X since July 1, which mention Jews.

The Post analyzed over 19,000 posts on X by Spamouflage accounts between Jan. 1, 2020 and Oct. 7, 2024 using data from the National Conference on Citizenship. This civic nonprofit provided this information. The Post identified these accounts using a number of sources, including the U.S. Justice Department’s Digital Forensics Research Lab at the Atlantic Council and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

A senior intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with ground rules established by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said that China had attempted to influence “tens,” of races down-ballot, by using social media accounts, and online influencers, to spread propaganda.

Officials warned that China’s efforts to influence lower level races appeared to be motivated by U.S. backing for Taiwan as the threat of an invasion from China intensifies.

The Post reported that foreign propaganda thrived on X following the drastic cutbacks made by Elon Musk to teams focusing on policy and disinformation. X removed a few accounts tracked by The Post in early or mid September for violating rules, but many others remained.

“Our Safety team is on the lookout for any attempts to manipulate our platform by bad actors or networks. Michael Abboud said that X has a strict policy to stop platform spamming and manipulation. We regularly remove accounts engaging in this behavior.

After The Post asked for comment, X suspended two accounts which posted the tweets cited in this article. One of the accounts that frequently posted Moore’s comments.

According to The Post’s analysis, the number of views on X posts from Spamouflage grew five-fold from 60,000 per week to 300,000. Musk’s August interview with Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump received 275 million views.

Around 15 percent of Spamouflage’s posts about Jews on X referred to Moore. Moore has supported many efforts to impose sanctions on Chinese officials. “What caused Barry Moore to win?” The bloody Jewish consortium was to blame! One account stated, “Just because he supported evil Israel.”

Some users use English names while others use Chinese. Some of the profiles feature pictures of young women.

Moore won an extremely tight primary in the beginning of this year. However, Cook Political Report does not consider his seat to be competitive.

Moore stated in a press release that “China has made clear that they will use all weapons in their arsenal including offensive cyber capability to try and destroy democracy around the world.”

Officials claim that China’s efforts to influence midterm elections in the United States are relatively new, but the practice goes back as far as the midterm elections of 2022. According to a National Intelligence Council report, China attempted to influence a “selection of midterm elections involving members of both U.S. parties” in 2022.

According to Darren Linvill’s analysis, a Clemson University social media researcher, Darren Linvill is the co-director of Watt Family Innovation Center Media Forensics Hub.

A Spamouflage account posted a video this year on X that featured a Washington Post article from 2011 that described how Rubio embellished a part of the history of his family. The Post received at least 8,885 hits.

Linvill said, “He has always been critical of China.” “China speaks about what matters to China.”

Rubio has declined to comment.

The network did not seem to be biased towards any particular party, even though about 6 percent (or a little more) of its posts on X were related to U.S. Presidential candidates. The network amplify false claims that