8-2-2024 (SAN FRANCISCO) A Chinese firm has been discovered to be operating over 100 websites disguised as local news outlets across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, pushing pro-Beijing content as part of a wide-ranging influence campaign. This campaign has been linked to a Beijing-based public relations firm, according to a research report released by digital watchdog Citizen Lab.
The propaganda material, spread across websites in 30 different countries, features a mix of news aggregated from local sources and Chinese state media. Citizen Lab warns of a potential risk of inadvertent amplification of this content due to the rapid proliferation of these websites and their ability to adapt to local languages and content. Alberto Fittarelli, a researcher involved in the report, stated, “While the campaign’s websites enjoyed negligible exposure to date, there is a heightened risk of inadvertent amplification by the local media and target audiences, as a result of the quick multiplication of these websites and their adaptiveness to local languages and content.”
The content found on these websites varies from conspiracy theories, often targeting the United States and its allies, to articles criticizing Beijing’s critics. It is unusual for researchers to link such operations directly to specific entities. However, Citizen Lab has traced the network behind this campaign to a public relations firm called Shenzhen Haimaiyunxiang Media Co Ltd, also known as Haimai. Despite attempts to contact the company for comment, no response has been received, and the phone number listed on an archived version of its website is not in service.
In response to the report, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington criticized the labeling of pro-China content as “disinformation” and the categorization of anti-China content as “true information,” emphasizing the alleged bias and double standards involved.
One of the websites identified in this campaign is Roma Journal, which closely resembles a local Italian news outlet, covering topics such as the Italian prime minister’s political prospects, a hot air balloon festival, and a book launch. However, a “press releases” button on the website leads to a collection of articles from Chinese state media discussing China’s contributions to the global economic recovery and its advancements in technological innovation.
The majority of the content found on these websites was sourced from a press releases service called Times Newswire, which was previously identified by cybersecurity firm Mandiant as being at the center of a separate Chinese influence operation targeting audiences in the United States.
While online influence campaigns are becoming increasingly common as powerful individuals and governments seek to shape public opinion, experts who track such operations have highlighted China, alongside Russia and Iran, as one of the major sources of such efforts. According to a report by social media giant Meta in November, Chinese influence operations have expanded well beyond Asia and represent a significant change in the global threat landscape since 2020.
Citizen Lab’s investigation into this network intensified after a series of similar websites emerged in South Korea and Italy. The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) in South Korea exposed 18 of these sites in a report last November, also linking them to the same Chinese firm, Haimai. It was discovered that Roma Journal was not legally registered as a news outlet in Italy, as reported by the Italian newspaper Il Foglio.
Despite the low engagement observed with this campaign, cybersecurity experts believe that it is still considered worthwhile by the perpetrators, indicating the possibility of future similar efforts. Dakota Cary, a China-focused consultant at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, noted, “I think that’s really important because they still think that it’s worthwhile to fund these campaigns. And so I think, if anything, we should expect to see this continue.”
