China is using AI and fake social media accounts to spread division and mistrust in the United States ahead of the presidential election, according to a stark new warning from Microsoft.
As election day nears Chinese cyber operatives are expected to deploy AI to create sophisticated deep fake online videos with false ‘news reports’ and phony anchors.
The tech giant said Beijing is ‘doubling down’ on efforts to disrupt the election and is currently using fake online polls to decide which issues most divide Americans.
It will then post AI-generated memes, original footage and infographics to cause further discord, most likely in relation to immigration, race and drugs.
Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) general manager Clint Watts said: “China is using fake social media accounts to poll voters on what divides them most to sow division and possibly influence the outcome of the US presidential election in its favor.
“China has also increased its use of AI-generated content to further its goals around the world.”
China is using fake social media accounts to sow division and possibly influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in its favor.
Operatives linked to the Chinese Communist Party have already “opportunistically jumped” on news events in the U.S.
That includes the prolific group known by the names Storm-1376, Spamouflage or Dragonbridge, Microsoft said.
Following a train derailment in Kentucky in November the group urged people through social media to consider whether the U.S. government deliberately caused the crash and was ‘hiding something’.
It also spread a conspiracy theory that the Maui wildfires of August 2023 were deliberately set by the U.S. government to test a “weather weapon”.
Other misinformation has included accusing the U.S. of poisoning water supplies in other countries to maintain “water hegemony”.
China is using fake social media accounts to poll voters on what divides them most to sow division and possibly influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in its favor
Chinese President Xi Jinping who has called Joe Biden an ‘old friend’
‘In recent months, there has been an increase in, effectively, polling questions,’ said Watts.
‘This indicates a deliberate effort to understand better which U.S. voter demographic supports what issue or position.’
Chinese operatives are using the polls to establish ‘which topics are the most divisive ahead of the main phase of the U.S. presidential election,’ he said.
He added: ‘These accounts nearly exclusively post about divisive U.S. domestic issues such as global warming, U.S. border policies, drug use, immigration, and racial tensions.
‘They use original videos, memes, and infographics as well as recycled content from other high-profile political accounts.”
Microsoft already saw a surge in Chinese AI-generated content aimed at influencing the presidential election in Taiwan in January.
Chinese Communist Party-affiliated operatives spread conspiracy theories about the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan
A timeline of how AI was used in an attempt to influence Taiwan’s election
It was the first time that Microsoft has identified a nation-state actor using AI to influence a foreign election.
“With major elections taking place around the world this year, particularly in India, South Korea and the United States, we assess that China will, at a minimum, create and amplify AI-generated content to benefit its interests,” Watts wrote.
Microsoft’s also said North Korea has started using AI to steal cryptocurrency.