紐時賞析／「高度兩極對立」氛圍成突破口 陸認知作戰影響美大選

A ‘Spamouflage’ Campaign Aims to Pump Up Voter Angst

陸認知作戰影響美大選 加劇社會分歧

A Chinese influence campaign that has tried for years to boost Beijing’s interests is now using artificial intelligence and a network of social media accounts to amplify American discontent and division before the U.S. presidential election, according to a new report.

一份新報告指出，一項多年來試圖提升北京利益的中國影響力行動，現在正利用人工智慧和社群媒體帳號網絡，在美國總統大選前放大美國人的不滿和分歧。

The campaign, known as Spamouflage, hopes to breed disenchantment among voters by maligning the United States as rife with urban decay, homelessness, fentanyl abuse, gun violence and crumbling infrastructure, according to the report, which was published Thursday by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonprofit research organization in London.

英國倫敦非營利研究組織「戰略對話研究所」周四發布的報告顯示，這場行動被稱為「垃圾訊息偽裝」，透過汙衊美國充斥都市衰退、遊民、芬太尼濫用、槍枝暴力和基礎建設破敗，希望讓選民幻滅。

An added aim, the report said, is to convince international audiences that the United States is in a state of chaos.

報告稱，行動的另一個目的是說服國際閱聽人認為美國處於混亂狀態。

Artificially generated images, some of them also edited with tools such as Photoshop, have pushed the idea that the November vote will damage and potentially destroy the country.

人工智慧所產生的影像，有些還以Photoshop等工具編修，推動了一種觀點，稱今年十一月美國大選將破壞並可能摧毀這個國家。

One post on X, formerly Twitter, that said “American partisan divisions” had an image showing President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump aggressively crossing fiery spears under this text: “INFIGHTING INTENSIFIES.” Other images featured the two men facing off, cracks in the White House or the Statue of Liberty, and terminology like “CIVIL WAR,” “INTERNAL STRIFE” and “THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.”

在前為推特的社群媒體X一則貼文寫道「美國黨派分歧」，其中一張圖片顯示美國總統拜登和前總統川普手持長矛激烈交鋒，上方則有「內鬥加劇」的文字。其他圖片包括有兩名男子對峙、白宮和自由女神像出現裂縫，還有「內戰」、「內部衝突」及「美國民主崩壞」等用語。

The narratives did not appear to have any obviously partisan leanings, although Biden was the target of multiple negative portrayals, including references to his son Hunter Biden’s legal troubles. Spamouflage’s attitude toward Trump was more ambiguous; posts claiming that his “status as an antihero is making him unstoppable” could be interpreted as flattering.

這些陳述似沒有明顯黨派傾向，儘管拜登是多種負面描述的目標，包括提及其次子杭特的官司麻煩。「垃圾訊息偽裝」對川普態度較曖昧；一些貼文聲稱他身為「反英雄的地位使他勢不可擋」，可被詮釋為是種奉承。

In America’s “hyper-polarized division,” China sensed an opportunity, said Elise Thomas, a senior analyst at the institute who wrote the report. Spamouflage’s focus on social conflict and antagonism in the U.S. presidential race could also signal how Beijing hopes to shape the many other important elections taking place in the world this year.

撰寫該報告的戰略對話研究所資深分析師湯瑪斯表示，美國「高度兩極分化」的氛圍，讓中國察覺到機會。「垃圾訊息偽裝」關注美國總統大選的社會衝突和對立，顯示中方希望如何影響今年將在世界各地舉行的其他多場重要選舉。

Spamouflage has been active since at least 2017, Thomas wrote in the report, adding that the campaign is “infamous among researchers both for its sprawling size and for its failure to generate any noteworthy engagement from real social media users.”

湯瑪斯在報告中寫道，「垃圾訊息偽裝」至少自2017年以來就一直活躍，並稱這個行動「因規模擴大和未能引起真正社群媒體用戶的任何顯著參與，而在研究人員間惡名昭彰」。

The report Thursday focused on Spamouflage posts on X. Thomas wrote that while the campaign also operated on YouTube, TikTok, Medium and “literally dozens of other forums, websites and social media platforms,” it had proliferated with far more ease on X.

周四發表的報告關注「垃圾訊息偽裝」發布在X的貼文。湯瑪斯寫道，儘管這項行動也在YouTube、TikTok、Medium和「數十個其他論壇、網站和社交媒體平台」運作，但在X上面更容易擴散。

文／Tiffany Hsu 譯／羅方妤

說文解字看新聞

【羅方妤】

2024是選舉年，全球75國近6成約40億人握有神聖一票。選舉愈來愈不像家務事，總會扯上境外勢力介選(interfere in)，認知作戰是介選，當面約談政黨候選人算不算介選？

導言裡用discontent與division，再加上disunity，根本是離心離德。三個單字均以di開頭，押頭韻(alliteration)。另，winter of discontent也是新聞英文常見用法，摘自莎士比亞名劇《理查三世》(Richard III)的開場白，最初用於描述1978-79年的英國社會情勢，現泛指發生在冬季期間的任何民怨。The problems in the power industry led to another winter of discontent.

「垃圾訊息偽裝」的單字Spamouflage是由Spam和Camouflage合成，Spam是指垃圾郵件，而Camouflage是偽裝的意思。

Disenchantment則是指失望、幻滅，disenchantment (with somebody/something) 。例：a growing sense/feeling of disenchantment with his job.同義字為disillusionment.