Beijing Likely Deploying Bot Network on Twitter to Spread Pandemic Disinformation, State Department Finds

Chinese paramilitary police wear protective masks as they march by the entrance to the Forbidden City as it reopened to limited visitors for the May holiday, on May 2, 2020 in Beijing. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The U.S. State Department has discovered a “coordinated” bot campaign on Twitter designed to disseminate Chinese Communist Party (CCP) disinformation, forming part of Beijing’s campaign to deflect blame over its role in causing the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), which works to expose foreign disinformation efforts, recently identified thousands of “inauthentic” Twitter accounts used to help Chinese embassies and diplomats spread disinformation.