China is increasingly targeting down-ballot elections in America, according to a Washington Post analysis and senior U.S. intelligence officials, using fake accounts on social media to spread divisive and sometimes explicitly antisemitic claims and conspiracy theories about politicians – part of an effort to inflame tensions in the country just one month before the 2024 election.
One covert influence operation has focused on Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., who is running to retain his House seat. A China-linked account on X called Moore “a Jewish dog” and claimed he won his primary because of “the bloody Jewish consortium,” among other derogatory tropes, according to a Post analysis of thousands of posts on X, of which about 75 concerned Moore.
Moore, who recently backed new sanctions on Chinese officials, is not Jewish.
The accounts are part of Spamouflage, China’s largest known covert influence operation, which often uses prolific distribution techniques to spread …