{"id":8204,"date":"2025-12-15T05:55:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/?p=8204"},"modified":"2025-12-15T06:15:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T12:15:33","slug":"missouri-ag-faces-coordinated-pro-china-social-media-attacks-over-24b-covid-judgment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2025\/12\/15\/missouri-ag-faces-coordinated-pro-china-social-media-attacks-over-24b-covid-judgment\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri AG faces coordinated, pro-China social media attacks over $24B COVID judgment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway visits St. Joseph Christian School on Nov. 17 (photo courtesy of Missouri Attorney General’s Office).<\/p>\n

A week after Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced plans to seize $24 billion worth of assets owned by China<\/a> as compensation for COVID-19, the online hate started pouring in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hundreds of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, in late November began questioning the attorney general\u2019s competence and character, honing in on her defense of Missouri\u2019s gerrymandered congressional map and crack down on intoxicating hemp products.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe should be impeached and dismissed from her position as attorney general,\u201d one post declared.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But according to investigators at the social media analytics company Graphika<\/a>, the attacks were not an organic reaction to a high-profile and controversial announcement. Instead, researchers found they were a coordinated campaign, likely originating in China and conducted by fake accounts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A network of 105 inauthentic pro-China X accounts were involved, according to Margot Hardy, the Graphika intelligence analyst who was involved in the research and an expert in Chinese influence operations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About half of the accounts were created in November and December. Many display <\/span>gaming or animation-related profile pictures, have few or no followers and use randomly generated account handles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Graphika has studied this type of activity before, Hardy said, but most of the time it targets people who are dissidents of China or exiles in the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is interesting, because we don\u2019t often see China-linked or pro-China actors targeting specific U.S. individuals at the local level,\u201d Hardy said, \u201cwhich is something rather more sophisticated. So that\u2019s why we reported on this activity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Posting activity dropped sharply on weekends and during the Golden Week holiday in early\u00a0 October that celebrates the founding of the People\u2019s Republic of China. The timing of the posts during the workday, Hardy said, signals that there is likely a \u201ccommercial actor\u201d behind the campaign and that the network is likely based in China.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The accounts in the network have shared other pro-China positions, such as calling for lifting bans on Huawei, the Chinese tech company banned in the U.S. out of concern its equipment could be used for espionage. Some accounts previously engaged in another coordinated campaign in late November that portrayed the U.S. as a \u201cscam-friendly\u201d nation and an \u201cempire of espionage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Several posts misused pronouns, referring to Hanaway as \u201che,\u201d and misspelled her name <\/span>as \u201cKathleen Hanaway\u201d or \u201cHanawi,\u201d suggesting the possible use of auto-translation tools to <\/span>produce the content.<\/span><\/p>\n

This activity, Hardy said, demonstrates how pro-China actors respond to criticism of Beijing or calls for COVID-19 accountability by attempting to discredit those individuals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not threatened by online trolls from China, and remain undeterred in our efforts to seize Chinese assets,\u201d Hanaway said in an email to The Independent. \u201cMissourians deserve justice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Missouri wants to seize Chinese assets to recover $24 billion judgment in COVID case<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n