Chrystia Freeland’s Liberal Leadership Campaign Targeted by Foreign Interference

Chrystia Freeland’s Liberal leadership campaign has come under fire from what has been described as “co-ordinated and malicious activity” originating from a WeChat account with ties to the Chinese government, according to the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force.

The task force, comprised of senior intelligence and security officials, traced the activity back 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.”

WeChat, a widely used Chinese app, serves as a hub for news, communication, and banking in the country.

Between Jan. 29 and Feb. 3, over 30 WeChat news accounts participated in the campaign targeting Freeland, with articles disparaging her receiving over 140,000 interactions.

It is estimated that two to three million WeChat users globally were exposed to the campaign against Freeland.

The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force briefed Freeland and the Liberal Party of Canada on Friday regarding the situation.

Originally established to monitor federal elections, the task force has expanded its scope to include byelections and the Liberal leadership race.