Deutsche Welle :
A Canadian task force, which tracks suspected foreign interference, on Friday said it had detected “coordinated and malicious activity” originating from China, targeting Chrystia Freeland – a leadership candidate from the country’s Liberal Party.
Freeland is currently in the running to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, come March 9.
The activity has allegedly been traced to a WeChat account linked to the Chinese government, Global Affairs Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism said in a press release.
The department is mandated to monitor the digital information ecosystem under the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force.
“The launch of this information operation was traced to WeChat’s most popular news account – an anonymous blog that has been previously linked by experts at the China Digital Times to the People’s Republic of China,” the release said.
“RRM Canada identified over 30 WeChat news accounts taking part in the campaign. The campaign received very high levels of engagement and views.”
China’s embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to the allegations but Beijing has repeatedly denied attempting to interfere in Canadian affairs.
The department had already briefed the Liberal Party and members of Freeland’s campaign team.
