China’s ‘Spamouflage Campaign’ Targets Trudeau, Poilievre, MPs: Global Affairs Canada

‘Spamouflage’ is a tactic that uses new or hijacked social media accounts to post and amplify propaganda messages across multiple platforms, GAC says.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre take part in the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa on May 30, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and dozens of Canadian MPs have been targeted by a “spamouflage” campaign coming from China, said Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

The agency’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) detected the campaign in which a bot network left thousands of comments in English and French on the social media accounts of Canadian MPs, the GAC said in a statement issued on Oct. 23. The incident was first detected in early August 2023 and accelerated in scale over the September long weekend, said the GAC.