CIA created fake social media accounts in effort to troll Chinese government by spreading misinformation
Two years after taking office, President Donald Trump gave the go-ahead for the Central Intelligence Agency to start a secret campaign on Chinese social media. This campaign aimed to make people in China start thinking badly about their government, as per former U.S. officials who knew about the top-secret operation.
Three people who used to work for the government told Reuters that the CIA put together a small group of people who pretended to be someone else online. They did this to share bad stories about Xi Jinping's government and leak unflattering secrets to foreign news sources. This all started in 2019, and nobody knew about it until now.
In the last ten years, China has quickly grown its influence around the world by making agreements with other countries for things like military support, trade, and business ventures.
The CIA group spread rumors that leaders in the Communist Party were stashing money they shouldn't have abroad. They also criticized China's Belt and Road Initiative, which funds projects like building roads and bridges in poorer countries, calling it corrupt and a waste of money. This info came from sources who talked to Reuters.
The goal in China was to make top leaders feel paranoid, so they'd spend time and resources trying to track down intruders on their tightly controlled internet, according to two people who used to work for the government. “We wanted them chasing ghosts,” one of these former officials said.
The authorization revealed by Reuters in 2019 was seen as a big deal by sources. It allowed the CIA to do more than just work in China. They could also operate in countries where the United States and China are trying to gain power. Four people who used to work for the government said this operation aimed to shape public opinion in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific.
“The feeling was China was coming at us with steel baseball bats and we were fighting back with wooden ones,” said a former national security official with direct knowledge of the finding.
Reuters couldn't figure out what effect the secret actions had or if President Joe Biden's administration continued the CIA program. Kate Waters, who speaks for President Biden's National Security Council, didn't want to talk about whether the program exists or if it's still going on. Two people who know a lot about intelligence history told Reuters that when the White House gives the CIA permission to do secret stuff, usually it keeps going even when a new president comes in. They do this through something called a presidential finding.
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