A Washington-based policy group says more than 330 accounts amplified pro-Chinese Communist Party narratives across multiple platforms between late 2025 and early 2026.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A Washington think tank has identified what it describes as a coordinated online influence campaign linked to China that targeted President Donald Trump, Japanese political leaders, human rights organizations, and foreign elections while promoting narratives favorable to the Chinese Communist Party.
According to a Feb. 26 policy brief reported by the Epoch Times, researchers documented more than 330 social media accounts operating across X, YouTube, Tumblr, Blogger, and Quora between December 2025 and February 2026.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute, said it identified six distinct clusters of accounts, each focused on advancing specific themes aligned with CCP interests.
The largest grouping, comprising 151 accounts, focused on U.S. audiences. According to the brief, several accounts posed as American citizens and criticized Trump’s policies, including claims that he had caused or worsened the fentanyl crisis. Researchers noted that accounts with few or no followers generated posts that received thousands of replies, which they characterized as evidence of an “inauthentic amplification network.”
“This tactic is used to manipulate platform algorithms into pushing content into the feeds of real users,” the brief states.
Another cluster concentrated on Japanese politics, circulating posts critical of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ahead of Japan’s election and portraying her as “corrupt and militaristic.”
A separate grouping targeted Uyghur activists and disseminated anti-Uyghur messaging among Canadian and Japanese audiences. The United States has designated Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as genocide. The Chinese government has rejected those allegations.
Additional clusters accused U.S. organizations of “collusion” with Taiwan and alleged financial incentives aimed at undermining China while denying CCP human rights abuses. One cluster focused on claims that the United States interfered in Honduran elections. Another amplified criticism of and supported protests against the president of the Philippines.
Researchers also found that some accounts adopted names and imagery resembling official U.S. agencies and organizations.
“Collectively the accounts manipulate recommendation algorithms to push their narratives on unsuspecting social media consumers,” the FDD brief states.
The report recommends the United States strengthen counter-influence capabilities and suggests that the recently created director of cognitive advantage position at the National Security Council could play a role in coordinating such efforts.
FDD researchers said the activity “closely mirrors” the Chinese “Spamouflage” operation, a previously documented disinformation campaign.
Research firm Graphika published a comprehensive report in 2019 examining Spamouflage, following Twitter’s removal of 3.5 million posts linked to CCP-backed activity. Graphika and other analysts have since reported that influence operations using inauthentic accounts increasingly incorporate artificial intelligence tools.
Graphika has also reported on networks of web domains posing as major news outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal, which were allegedly used to amplify pro-CCP narratives and criticize the spiritual practice Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, emerged publicly in China in the early 1990s and emphasizes meditation and principles described as truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. In 1999, Chinese authorities banned the practice and launched a crackdown that continues. Human rights organizations, independent investigators, and media outlets have documented allegations including detention, torture, and forced organ harvesting.
The Chinese government denies allegations of systemic abuses and rejects claims of conducting coordinated disinformation campaigns.
The findings add to ongoing debates in Washington and allied capitals over foreign influence operations and the role of social media platforms in mitigating coordinated inauthentic behavior.