As the protests in Hong Kong grew and intensified over the summer, observers on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube began to notice a trend: Chinese state-run media outlets, such as China Central Television (CCTV) and Xinhua News, were blanketing platforms with promoted tweets, boosted posts and advertising content containing false or fictitious accusations against protesters, who since June 5 have been calling for the withdrawal of a controversial anti-extradition law, universal suffrage, and more.

It got so bad that on August 17, Maciej Cegłowski, a web developer, wrote a tweet thread highlighting the disparity between the messages on his Twitter feed and what he was seeing on the ground. His thread went viral, with journalists and protesters concurring that Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube were all filled with promoted content presenting a heavily distorted view of the protests.

“[Chinese entities] have been deeply engaged in online debates since the Hong Kong protests started, making arguments against Western media narratives, showcasing violent behavior of radicals within the protest movement, or employing straight-up personal attacks [and] doxing against journalists,” said Mike Zi Yang, a senior analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.