China practiced in Taiwan to disrupt elections: Microsoft

• The Guardian

China would attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft Corp has said.

The US tech firm expects Chinese state-backed cybergroups to target high-profile elections this year, with North Korea also involved, a report published on Friday by the company’s threat intelligence team showed.

“As populations in India, South Korea and the United States head to the polls, we are likely to see Chinese cyber and influence actors, and to some extent North Korean cyberactors, work toward targeting these elections,” the report reads.

Photo: Reuters

“At a minimum,” China would create and distribute through social media AI-generated content that “benefits their positions in these high-profile elections,” Microsoft said.

The company added that the impact of AI-made content was minor, but warned that could change.

“While the impact of such content in swaying audiences remains low, China’s increasing experimentation in augmenting memes, videos and audio will continue — and may prove effective down the line,” Microsoft said.

China had already attempted an AI-generated disinformation campaign in the Taiwanese presidential and legislative elections in January, the report said.

That was the first time it had seen a state-backed entity using AI-made content in a bid to influence a foreign election, it added.

A Beijing-backed group called Storm 1376, also known as Spamouflage or Dragonbridge, was highly active during the Taiwanese election, the report said.

Its attempts to influence the outcome included posting fake audio on YouTube of presidential candidate Terry Gou (郭台銘) — the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder who bowed out in November last year — endorsing another candidate, it said.

That clip was “likely AI generated,” Microsoft said.

YouTube removed the content before it reached many users.

The Beijing-backed group pushed a series of AI-generated memes about now-president-elect William Lai — a pro-sovereignty candidate opposed by Beijing — that leveled baseless claims against the vice president accusing him of embezzling state funds.

There was also an increased use of AI-generated TV news anchors, a tactic that has also been used by Iran, with an “anchor” making unsubstantiated claims about Lai’s private life including fathering illegitimate children, the report said.

The news anchors were created by the CapCut tool, developed by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動), the owner of TikTok, Microsoft said.

Chinese groups continue to mount influence campaigns in the US, with Beijing-backed actors using social media accounts to pose “divisive questions” and attempt to understand issues dividing US voters, it said.

“This could be to gather intelligence and precision on key voting demographics ahead of the US presidential election,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post accompanying the report.