Chinese posed as local Texans online to target rare earth producer

From Washington Times.com (June 29):

China conducted a sophisticated disinformation campaign against a company building a rare earth minerals facility in Texas for the Pentagon, according to the Pentagon and a cybersecurity firm.

The cybersecurity company, Mandiant, disclosed the campaign on Tuesday. It said Chinese actors used social media in a bid to discredit Lynas Rare Earths Ltd., an Australian company, and other rare earth mining firms to undermine the critical supply chain for the elements. The Pentagon has signed an agreement with Lynas, the world’s largest rare earth mining and processing company, to build a Texas plant.

China has aggressively moved to dominate the global market for “rare earth” minerals, which are indispensable to many cutting-edge technological products, including smartphones, flat-screen TVs, medical equipment and water treatment systems. The U.S. and its allies have pressed in recent years to develop alternative sources of supply and production.

Mandiant investigators identified what they said were Chinese agents posing online as concerned local Texans who opposed Lynas’ planned construction of a rare earth processing plant there.

Fake Twitter accounts claimed the Texas plant would cause irreversible environmental damage, Mandiant stated in a blog post report. The fake accounts also stated that the plant would expose residents to radioactive contamination and health risks, including cancer, genetic mutations and deformities in newborns.

The campaign was also conducted on Facebook and used more sophisticated pitches seen in past Chinese online influence operations, Mandiant said.

“We observed accounts post primarily in English, with an additional lesser amount of content in Chinese,” the report said. “Additionally, we observed extremely limited messaging in Malay, and Dragonbridge accounts promoted photos of demonstrations against Lynas that took place in Malaysia sometime between 2012 and 2019, due to controversy surrounding the disposal of radioactive waste produced by its rare earths processing facility in the city of Kuantan.”

“Dragonbridge” is the code name Mandiant gave to those conducting the Chinese disinformation operation.

Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said he had not seen the Mandiant report but suggested it was based on “forces in the world” that seek to fabricate rumors to slander and discredit China.

“China is one of the biggest victims of disinformation,” he said in an email. “China always opposes the creation and dissemination of disinformation. There are some people and forces in the world who are keen to fabricate rumors, slander and discredit China.”

The campaign involved a network of thousands of inauthentic accounts on social media platforms, websites and forums that “promoted various narratives in support of the political interests of the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” Mandiant stated in a report.

The Pentagon confirmed the disinformation operation in a statement Tuesday. It praised the work of Reston, Virginia-based Mandiant in helping to expose the disinformation attempt.

Lynas Rare Earths is working to set up production in the United States, and the Defense Department “has engaged the relevant interagency stakeholders and partner nations to assist in reviewing the matter,” the statement said.

The disinformation operation made false claims about the company’s environmental record and tried to spark protests against the facility, according to Mandiant. The Chinese used similar tactics in opposing a Canadian rare earth mining company called Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. and the American rare earths manufacturing company USA Rare Earth.

The targeting included “negative messaging in response to potential or planned rare earths production activities involving those companies,” the report said.

The Chinese also targeted the Biden administration’s March decision to invoke the Defense Production Act to speed up domestic production of critical minerals and end reliance on Chinese sources for the minerals. [read more]

Just think the Biden regime is worried about domestic and Russian disinformation. When it comes to the ChiComs the regime looks the other way.