Washington, DC [US], October 30 : The accounts that regularly promote cryptocurrency-related content on X have amplified messages from Chinese official accounts and a China-linked disinformation operation covertly pushing Beijing's propaganda towards Western social media users known as "Spamouflage."
As reported by Voice of America, Spamouflage accounts have created a narrative on the COVID-19 issue, the Ukraine war, the Gaza issue and the human rights record in China, promoting Beijing's interests. These accounts are bots but act as authentic sources of information.
VOA Mandarin and DoubleThink Lab, a social media analytics firm based in Taiwan, have discovered a group of cryptocurrency accounts that promote propaganda.
According to Voice of America, the DoubleThink Lab found 1,153 accounts that are bots to increase their client visibility.
The findings indicate that some official Chinese accounts and the Spamouflage operation may be using similar amplification services, suggesting a coordinated effort to influence Western social media discourse.
VOA-DTL investigation highlights that most of the posts were related to cryptocurrency.
ChainGPT and LondonRealTV are some of the biggest cryptocurrency accounts on X, and they belong to British podcaster Brian Rose. According to the investigation, these accounts have shared content with 17 Spamouflage accounts.
According to VOA, the cryptocurrency firms have at least once reposted the content from the Spamouflage account known as Watermelon Cloth. This account has regularly praised the developments in China and criticised social inequalities in the US, Ukraine, and Israel.
In a post, the Watermelon Cloth stated, "The outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war brought out an 'unspeakable secret' in the United States. US biological laboratory in Ukraine exposed." Recently, the account was suspended from X.
Spamouflage is an online operation that spreads propaganda in favour of China and criticises Western countries through social media posts to influence the opinion of people. It was first detected by Graphika, a US-based social media firm.