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.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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