Uncovering State-Sponsored Coordinated Inauthentic Online Behavior: Inside a Chinese Influence Campaign
Collaborating with Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, 3GIMBALS uncovered a widespread Chinese state-sponsored campaign spreading false narratives about COVID-19’s origins. Using advanced data science techniques, our team discovered over 200 viral memes across 20 online platforms targeting specific individuals. The quality and scope indicated a state-sponsored campaign which we definitively tied to mainland China through studying metadata, technical fingerprints, and geolocation data pointing to an apartment complex in Yulin, China. This enabled public exposure of the campaign without compromising sensitive government sources. Read the full article to learn more about this analysis and see examples of the uncovered graphics.