Freeland targeted by ‘malicious’ WeChat campaign with alleged ties to China: Threat task force [Video]

China may have launched a “disparaging” and “malicious” campaign against Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland on the social media platform WeChat, according to the task force set up to monitor foreign election interference.

The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE) said in a release Friday an information operation directed at Freeland was traced to WeChat’s “most popular news account,” an anonymous blog that experts have linked to the People’s Republic of China.

The Chinese social media app is immensely popular and part of daily life in the country, from news to communication to banking, and has more than a billion users worldwide.

In a statement, SITE, which is made up of senior Canadian intelligence and security officials, wrote that over 30 WeChat news accounts took part in the campaign between Jan. 29 and Feb. 3.

“The campaign received very high levels of engagement and views, with WeChat …