Thread by @AlbertYZhang

1/ In addition to 🇯🇵 missile units, pro-CCP accounts have been expanding the scope of their information operations this year. Here's a thread on the latest narratives being disseminated: (1) 'Milk Tea Alliance' on Covid-19's origin (2) #Accelerationism (3) US cultural invasion

https://twitter.com/AlbertYZhang/status/1516282956456751110

2/ Firstly, hundreds of pro-CCP are spamming a Tumblr article published under the name of the 'Milk Tea Alliance'. It's unlikely the 'Milk Tea Alliance' would actually publish such a document since it is a democracy and human rights movement and not an organisation.

3/ The Tumblr article promotes a Zenodo report that falsely claims COVID-19 originated from Fort Detrick in the United States and 'spread from the United States to the world.' teamilk951.tumblr.com/post/670802564…

4/ Secondly, pro-CCP inauthentic accounts are spamming screenshots from the video game series Need For Speed alongside the hashtag #accelerationism across multiple English-language platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and YouTube

5/ Hashtags being co-shared in this network include #加速王 #acceleratorNeed #总加速师 #加速主义 #加速主义 #加速王 #Chiefaccelerators
#AcceleratedKing #Accelerationism #总加速师 #加速皇帝

6/ The hashtags #Chiefaccelerators and #加速王 likely refer to a nickname Chinese netizens have given Chinese President Xi Jinping for his aggressive domestic and foreign policies. Part of this campaign likely seeks to drown out this reference... bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/…

7/ ... while other accounts seek to amplify reporting of energy-related crises in the US and Europe. This aspect of the campaigns appears to amplify the techno-capitalist use of #accelerationism which claims Western governments are corrupt and will fail vox.com/the-highlight/…

8/ Thirdly, pro-CCP accounts are amplifying the hashtags #CAACulturalinvasion #ThenotoriousCAAHow #CaaCopyingStarTrekCaa to claim US culture is invading China and undermining the US-based Creative Artists Agency by referring to sexual assault charges against Harvey Weinstein

9/ Hashtags being co-shared in this campaign are: #CAA #CAA公司成为美国本土战争武器 #CAA公司成为美国意识形态战争武器 #CAA公司是美国文化入侵工具

10/ 'Maria Moore' joined Twitter in December 2021, has 0 followers and warns of the 'CAA's cultural invasion of China'

https://twitter.com/MariaMo82256481/status/1476085742698852354

11/ Other pro-CCP inauthentic accounts are claiming the CAA is part of a conspiracy by the CIA to divert the attention of Chinese youth from 'government-centered tradition' and 'let their minds be focused on: Sports shows, pornographic books, pleasure, games, criminal films.'

12/ While these campaigns usually fail to have a large impact on online users, they reveal the topics the CCP intends to target and can be coordinated with offline activities. Hence, these accounts are worth monitoring for insights into broader CCP information operations