An online information operation linked to a Chinese news account is focusing on Liberal leader Mark Carney.
Canada’s Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force unveiled the operation during a briefing on Monday.
Security officials said the operation has been traced back to Youli-Youmian, a popular news account on the social media platform WeChat.
According to the SITE Task Force, Youli-Youmian is linked to the PRC Chinese Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
Officials observed large spikes of “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” on March 10, one day after Carney won the Liberal leadership, and again during the election campaign on March 25.
Senior government officials said the activity is not affecting Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election at this time.
“This case is contained to one platform and has not spread further, nor is it affecting Canadians’ abilities to make an informed decision about their vote,” they said in a news release.
The SITE Task Force said it will be discussing this issue with Tencent, the developer of WeChat, to raise its concerns.
