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Things are never quite the way they seem
Way “back in the day” of 1980, a band emerged named Wall of Voodoo. Their lead singer, Stan Ridgway, had an unusual, distinctive vocal sound which led to their only Top 100 hit (and frequent plays on MTV) with “Mexican Radio,” a song about border blaster radio stations. After leaving the group for a solo career, Ridgway produced a song about a ghostly hero from the Vietnam War that eventually became a favorite of my young boys. “Camouflage” contained the lyrics, “Woohoohoohoo. Camouflage. Things are never quite the way they seem.”
The lyrics could be repurposed today with, “Spamouflage. Things are never quite the way they seem.” Spamouflage is a propaganda and disinformation operation, widely attributed to the Chinese government, that uses social media posts to foment dissatisfaction with American democracy and politicians.
Graphika, a leading firm monitoring cyber threats, just released a report, “The #Americans – Chinese State-Linked Influence Operation Spamouflage Masquerades as U.S. Voters to Push Divisive Online Narratives Ahead of 2024 Election.”
The report highlights several key findings:
Spamouflage has become more aggressive in its efforts to influence the 2024 presidential election, including impersonating U.S. voters and spreading divisive narratives on social media.
Graphika identified 15 Spamouflage accounts on X and one on TikTok claiming to be U.S. citizens frustrated by American politics.
These accounts have planted and amplified content denigrating both Democratic and Republican candidates, cast doubt on the legitimacy of U.S. elections, and spread divisive messages about sensitive social issues.
Graphika concludes, “We assess that Spamouflage and other Chinese IO actors will almost certainly continue their efforts to influence U.S. political conversations throughout the 2024 presidential election cycle, leveraging social divisions in a polarized information environment to portray the U.S. as a declining global power with weak leaders and a failing system of governance.”
And that is their goal, even more than attempting to promote one candidate over another. They have issued content that targeted Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and, recently, Vice President Kamala Harris. They are not anti-Democrat or anti-Republican. They are anti-democracy, anti-America.
Stan Ridgway was right. Things are never quite the way they seem.