Canada: Chinese disinformation campaign targets federal MPs

Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, revealed, on October 23, 2023, that a disinformation campaign linked to China had targeted dozens of MPs. A “botnet” thus sent thousands of “propaganda and disinformation” messages to the Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts of these MPs.

Launched in early August 2023, the campaign, probably led by the People’s Republic of China, reached its peak between September 8 and 10, 2023. It affected MPs from all parties and all areas, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, and several ministers.

The massive spamming aimed to discredit a Canadian Chinese-speaking public personality who is a vocal critic of the Chinese government. The messages alleged this person had accused the targeted MPs of “criminal offenses and unethical conduct.” Deepfakes were used to support the claims.

According to Global Affairs Canada, the goal of the operation was probably to “silence critics of the Chinese communist party by encouraging MPs to distance themselves from this person and discouraging the vast online community from communicating with them.”