With the beginning of early voting in the United States and the approach of Election Day on November 5, the Chinese Communist Party spread false information on social media through “junk disguise” accounts, casting doubts on the fairness of the election process. These dark actions have been exposed. Analysis suggests that the primary target of these “junk disguise” attacks is the United States.
Voice of America and Taiwan’s Doublethink Lab have jointly launched an in-depth investigation using cutting-edge big data analysis to uncover the network activities of the Chinese Communist Party, dissecting the false information about the U.S. election.
In a report on November 3, Voice of America highlighted that the joint investigation found several “junk disguise” Chinese Communist accounts have posted or reposted accusations of election fraud in the past 10 days. These accusations are not original and similar ones have already been widely spread on American social media.
This latest discovery aligns with the analysis of the content these “junk disguise” accounts have posted over the past few months, showing that the purpose of the Chinese Communist Party’s false information campaign is not to help a specific candidate win but rather to sow mistrust towards the government among the American public and undermine confidence in the U.S. system.
Previously, U.S. officials have expressed concerns that foreign forces, including the Chinese Communist Party, may attempt to create chaos after the election by questioning the election process through false information campaigns.
In the past week, at least 55 posts questioning the integrity of the election originated from “junk disguise” accounts on social media platform X. Previous investigations rarely found them posting any content related to election fraud.
One post from October 29 claimed that a group of non-U.S. citizens supporting Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris cut in line at a polling station and voted, backed by two videos as evidence.
The videos show a group approaching a polling station with voters waiting in line. In another video, a man states that these individuals are “foreigners”.
These videos were initially posted by an account named “Emma Cawood” on X on October 27. The incident took place in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
After the videos circulated, local authorities responded. In a statement, the county government clarified that the individuals in the videos were not foreigners and did not cut in line to vote.
The statement explained that these individuals were there to apply for mail-in voting. Voting station staff allowed elderly and disabled individuals to sit as required by regulations, some received translation services, while the rest rejoined the line outside the voting station.
X platform has added a warning label to “Emma Cawood’s” original post indicating misleading content.
Another “junk disguise” account reposted news about a voting incident where a man from Tarrent County, Texas claimed he chose Republican candidate Donald Trump on the voting machine but the printed ballot showed Harris instead.
Election official Clint Ludwig from Tarrent County explained on X that he believed the voter did make a selection, and the printed result confirmed that. The man realized the error after confirming, and this type of mistake is not uncommon during voting. Once such an error occurs, election officials are asked to void the ballot.
The voter informed the voting station personnel about the incorrect ballot, which was voided, and he correctly marked his choice on a new ballot. Ludwig stated, “After knowing this, you can confidently vote in Tarrent County.”
Ludwig strongly advised voters to verify their selections on the printed paper ballot before scanning it to be counted and stressed that there is no reason to believe the election system would flip votes in Tarrent County.
In addition to sharing doubts about the fairness of the election, some “junk disguise” accounts directly claimed that Americans do not trust the U.S. electoral system.
One account wrote, “People do not trust their elections, voting, or the system of free and fair elections. I cannot believe this is happening in the most powerful democracy in the world.”
The report revealed tracking of hundreds of “junk disguise” accounts on X platform. These bot accounts impersonate real users and post content aligned with Beijing’s narrative, including false information.
Analysis of 536 posts by four influential and representative content publishers over the past six months found that these accounts did not show a particular bias towards any candidate in this year’s U.S. presidential election. In fact, they expressed negativity towards Trump, Harris, former Democratic candidate, and U.S. President Joe Biden.
A post by a “junk disguise” account stated, “Both Biden and Trump are the worst presidents.”
Describing Harris, another post by a “junk disguise” account said, “Simply put, her values are repeatedly lying.”
Another post collectively referred to Trump, Biden, Harris, and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley as “supporters of ethnic cleansing” for their support of Israel in the Gaza conflict.
U.S. intelligence officials and false information experts have previously indicated that Chinese false information campaigns do not lean towards any particular candidate but aim to amplify political divisions within the United States, leading Americans to question the government’s capabilities and ultimately lose confidence in the U.S. system itself.
The Chinese authorities have repeatedly denied spreading false information to the American public.
Analysis of four representative “junk disguise” accounts showed that the vast majority of the content they published criticized the United States.
Even when promoting China, the “junk disguise” accounts did not forget to criticize the U.S. In one post, a “junk disguise” account juxtaposed photos of a clean subway station in Shanghai with a comparatively run-down one in New York.
After analyzing the content of these posts, the Doublethink Lab concluded that undermining trust in America among the people is the goal of these “junk disguise” accounts.