The fight against Russian and Chinese interference, in Germany and Canada

In Germany, Russia is suspected of discrediting the government and its support for Ukraine. While in Canada, China is suspected of having favored the re-election of Justin Trudeau. Our correspondents explain these suspicions to us.

In Germany, specialists from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have uncovered a Russian disinformation campaign on Elon Musk’s X platform. It’s the weekly Der Spiegel which reveals the affair, Friday January 26. These tens of thousands of tweets were intended in particular to discredit the German government and its support for Ukraine. Clusters of clues are converging towards Moscow.

While in Canada, a public commission of inquiry began its work on Monday, January 29, to understand whether countries like China, Russia and India did indeed try to influence the 2019 and 2021 elections. Ministers, deputies and representatives of intelligence services will have to answer questions from a judge to understand the phenomenon and recommend to the government measures to take to fight against foreign interference.

Germany: Fake X accounts with messages that appear authentic

Using special software, German government experts scrutinized messages posted on X for a month, between December 20 and January 20. They spotted 50,000 fake user accounts authoring, in total, more than a million tweets, with a record of 200,000 in a single day, which represents 140 tweets per minute.

To make the messages appear authentic, they were often sent from profiles that replicated the accounts of well-known personalities or media outlets. Messages written with links that lead to internet pages that look exactly like the real sites but are only copies. To increase distribution, the hackers added popular hashtags of the moment to tweets, even if they had nothing to do with the topic, such as the Oktoberfest in Munich or German football championship matches.

A fake Interior Ministry page states, for example, that it is important to distribute Ukrainian refugees fairly among German homes. In a tweet, the daily South German Zeitung announces that the war is clearly lost for Ukraine. The content of the messages is often the same, they are reproaches addressed to the German government, accused of neglecting its population and of supporting Ukraine too much. Here are some of those messages:I find it disappointing that the government is doing more for other countries than for its own citizens”, “it’s a shame that the coalition is not tackling its country’s problems first”. Propaganda neither too outrageous nor too vindictive, so as not to arouse suspicion, but effective in discrediting the action of the German government.

No tweets on Russian holidays

Despite everything, the experts managed to trace the chain of these computer hackers who made some mistakes. Like, for example, a forgotten Cyrillic inscription in a tweet supposedly written by Annalena Baerbock, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Or, several accounts with the same profile photo.

Experts also noticed that no tweets were sent during weekends and on dates that correspond to public holidays in Russia. Suspicion falls heavily on Moscow, accused of orchestrating this propaganda. A few months before the European elections and three regional elections, this digital attack worries the authorities. They fear that the scenario will repeat itself, especially since the campaign seems to operate in an automated manner, powered by artificial intelligence, which makes it even more formidable.

Canada: attacks against conservatives in pro-Beijing newspapers

Diasporas make up a very important group of voters in certain regions of Canada. 1.8 million Canadian citizens come, for example, from China. This country, in particular, is said to have carried out several important actions to try to influence the vote in 11 constituencies. The goal being to favor the election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party, a priori more favorable to the Middle Kingdom than the conservatives.

To influence voters, there are first classic attacks against conservatives in pro-Beijing newspapers aimed at Chinese immigrants. Students from China were also involved. Companies hired them to work pro bono for certain candidates, threatening them with withdrawal of their visas if they did not comply. Another means of action is a disinformation campaign carried out on social networks such as We Chat, very popular with ethnic Chinese. Sites have relayed lies about certain conservative candidates, simply to tarnish their image with voters.

Conservative elected official campaigning for Uighurs targeted

An MP of Chinese origin saw his support in the diaspora crumble and lost his position. But the most serious case concerns the elected conservative, Michael Chong. Canadian secret services discovered a plot involving him. This followed his involvement in getting Canada to recognize that the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, are victims of genocide in China. Apparently Beijing targeted him, trying to gather information on his extended family in Hong Kong. When the affair became public, the Canadian government expelled the diplomat responsible.

The commission of inquiry which is being launched should determine several measures to enable the Canadian government to fight against foreign influence. There is talk, for example, of forcing foreign agents suspected of wanting to get involved in the elections to officially register in a file. Australia did this a few years ago. Several also ask the secret services to be more transparent and to warn the public when they are aware of foreign maneuvers towards certain candidates.