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Pro-China Troll Network Fed COVID Conspiracy Theories, Tried to Organize Protest in U.S.: Watchdog Report

Cybersecurity researchers say network worked in seven languages, pressed theory that COVID started in U.S. military laboratory at Fort Detrick, and trashed Steve Bannon.

A pro-Beijing network of social media trolls has spent the past two years spewing propaganda in support of China’s Communist Party and even tried to organize a protest in the United States, according to a new report from cybersecurity firm Mandiant. Researchers at the company found the trolls posted in seven languages across dozens of web and social media forums in an attempt to sow political divisions in the West and sway readers to the Chinese government’s point of view. The activity began with fake and compromised Twitter accounts criticizing Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests in June 2019 but has since expanded to include a broader range of messages and audiences. Content from the network included bogus conspiracy theories about the coronavirus originating in a U.S. military laboratory, criticism of former Trump adviser and China hawk Steve Bannon, and advertisements promoting an April 2021 New York City protest against Bannon’s wealthy Chinese fugitive business partner, Guo Wengui.