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In November of 2023, a joint team comprised of the South Korean intelligence agency and four cybersecurity firms revealed a dark corner of the web that few would have believed existed: an alleged Chinese influence campaign involving more than three dozen fake websites disguised to resemble South Korean news publications.
The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) cyber threat analysis team traced the origin of these sites to two Chinese marketing firms and one newswire service, discovering that these entities were attempting to spread misleading articles through their media channels. From the names of the publications to the articles they posted, the haphazardly assembled fake websites were intended to blur the line between truth and falsehood, their aim being to deceive readers who stumble upon their front pages into accepting “fake news” as coming from legitimate news organizations.
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“From the perspective of strategic communication, a propaganda campaign can be classified into three different types: the black, the white, and the grey,” explained Yun Min-woo, a professor at the Department of Police Science & Security Studies at Gachon University. “This can be regarded as grey propaganda, which is in the middle of the black and white. It is where fabricators mix fact and falsehoods in their messages.”
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“From the perspective of strategic communication, a propaganda campaign can be classified into three different types: the black, the white, and the grey,” explained Yun Min-woo, a professor at the Department of Police Science & Security Studies at Gachon University. “This can be regarded as grey propaganda, which is in the middle of the black and white. It is where fabricators mix fact and falsehoods in their messages.”
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The Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research and internet watchdog group based at the University of Toronto, focuses on investigating advanced digital threats against civilians, including the malicious use of surveillance tools. The group began tracking the activities of Chinese influence operators after their operations were publicly exposed in October 2023 by the Italian news organization, Il Foglio. Delving deeper into the investigation, Citizen Lab, alongside the South Korean intelligence agency and its private partners, not only uncovered and exposed the fake news sites, but they also directly attributed disinformation campaigns to a Chinese marketing firm, “Shenzhen Haimai Yunxiang Media Co., Ltd.”
The report highlighted the growing trend of the disinformation-for-hire industry, which refers to private companies offering information operations as a service to clients, and which are increasingly operating to the benefit of the Chinese government. The senior researcher noted, “[Disinformation-for-hire] benefits any actor that purchases such services, (…) and it is increasingly viewed as being favored by, and likely requested by, governments.” They further speculated, based on an educated guess, that PAPERWALL will not be the last operation of its kind. The rationale behind this prediction is the relatively low cost of executing such tactics and the potentially high rewards when these operations succeed.
The report highlighted the growing trend of the disinformation-for-hire industry, which refers to private companies offering information operations as a service to clients, and which are increasingly operating to the benefit of the Chinese government. The senior researcher noted, “[Disinformation-for-hire] benefits any actor that purchases such services, (…) and it is increasingly viewed as being favored by, and likely requested by, governments.” They further speculated, based on an educated guess, that
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The Readable included the comment received from the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) related to their efforts to block fraudulent websites.
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The Readable dedicated a total of 130 hours from January to February to the publication of three articles and two interactive features on the Chinese influence campaign involving fake news sites.
From January 3 to 5, The Readable spent 15 hours analyzing 18 bogus South Korean news sites, which were identified by the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) cyber threat analysis team in November of the previous year.
From January 8 to 12, The Readable invested 35 hours in examining all the fake websites and the 42 instances of malicious content hosted on these platforms, as confirmed by the NCSC cyber threat analysis team. The team also contacted government officials and South Korean experts, culminating in the publication of an in-depth article titled “A glimpse inside a Chinese influence campaign: How bogus news websites blur the line between true and false.”
From January 17 to 19, The Readable dedicated 12 hours to gathering feedback from the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) and the National Intelligence Service (NIS), incorporating their comments into the original report.
Over January 23 and 24, The Readable spent 14 hours crafting an opinion piece reflecting on the experience of covering the 18 fake news sites, titled “[Perspective] Preparing for the best and the worst in the face of the Chinese influence campaign.”
On February 1 and 2, The Readable allocated 10 hours to analyze an embargoed report from Citizen Lab, revealing that a Chinese marketing firm was behind the creation of fake websites across 30 countries. The team collaborated with the internet watchdog group to produce the article based on this report.
From February 5 to 6, The Readable devoted 18 hours to comparing the Citizen Lab report with findings from the South Korean threat intelligence team. This comprehensive analysis led to the publication of an article titled “Chinese marketing firm created fake news sites targeting 30 countries, researchers reveal.”
On February 15 and 16, The Readable spent 6 hours gathering examples of interactive news articles and held a meeting to discuss the creation of the first interactive article for The Readable.
From February 20 to 26, The Readable dedicated 20 hours to accessing all 123 fake websites identified by Citizen Lab. During this process, the team collaborated with the internet watchdog to incorporate new findings into the original report.
The Readable.
