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US officials see activity on Facebook as relatively minor so far. China, according to two US officials, has yet to decide whether to try to influence the November elections in any substantial way.
Microsoft also reported observing Chinese activity aimed at gathering information about the presidential campaign. Last week, the company reported on China’s efforts to hack into the Biden campaign and American think tanks. US intelligence officials have said that China may have been seeking opposition investigations criticizing Trump, and that Biden’s campaign does not undermine the administration’s assessment that China opposes Trump.
Facebook also briefed Congress ahead of its announcement Tuesday. William R. Evanina, the senior intelligence official in charge of foreign electoral threats, was scheduled to brief congressional intelligence committees in the coming days on the latest findings of electoral influence and interference operations.
The network discovered by Facebook included 155 accounts, 11 pages, nine groups and six Instagram accounts. Publishing in Chinese, Filipino and English, the group largely disseminated stories of interest to Filipino workers abroad, as well as content supporting President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign for re-election in the Philippines.
Facebook also announced the removal of a coordinated campaign operating on behalf of a government entity in the Philippines. That campaign, which included 57 Facebook accounts, 31 pages and 20 Instagram accounts, was followed by some 276,000 people, mainly in the Philippines.
“Although the people behind this activity tried to hide their identities, our investigation found links to the Philippine military and the Philippine police,” Facebook wrote in its report. The activity was reported by civil society groups and Rappler, an independent news organization in the Philippines that the Duterte government has targeted.
Adam Goldman and Julian E. Barnes reported from Washington, and Sheera Frenkel from Oakland, California.
