Canada says China-linked ‘Spamouflage’ campaign targeted lawmakers, PM Trudeau

The Canadian government said on Monday it detected a China-linked “Spamouflage” campaign that involved bots posting disinformation and propaganda on the social media accounts of members of parliament, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Spamouflage campaign, using networks of new and hijacked social media accounts to post bulk messages, took place in August and September, and targeted dozens of lawmakers from across the political spectrum, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The messages included accusations against the lawmakers of criminal and ethical violations, a claim that Hawaiian wildfires were caused by a secret U.S. military “weather weapon” and deepfake videos.
Thousands of such comments in English and French were posted on the lawmakers’ Facebook and X accounts, and the government worked with the platforms to get the bot networks removed.