Information operation on WeChat targeting the 45th General Election

The Government of Canada held its third briefing to media regarding the actions that it is taking to protect the 45th General Election from foreign interference.

The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force (TF) has detected an information operation targeting the 45th General Election by Chinese social media platform WeChat’s most popular news account Youli-Youmian (有理儿有面), an anonymous blog that does not disclose its provenance.1 Intelligence reporting links the Youli-Youmian account to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Chinese Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLAC).

The SITE TF assesses that this information operation was intended to influence Canadian-Chinese communities in Canada (i.e. speakers of a Chinese language, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, or Hakka) and looked to mould perceptions about the Prime Minister, Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) Leader and LPC candidate for Nepean, Mark Carney.

The Youli-Youmian account was also responsible for targeting members of Parliament Michael Chong (in June 2023) and Chrystia Freeland (in January 2025).

The information operation targeting Mr. Carney is deliberately amplifying narratives in a coordinated and inauthentic way on WeChat, to Chinese audiences, including communities living in Canada. The SITE TF observed large spikes of what is believed to be coordinated inauthentic behaviour on March 10 and 25, 2025.

Specifically, various contrasting narratives were spread on WeChat about Mr. Carney – first amplifying the candidate's stance with the United States2, then targeting his experience and credentials.3

Tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs)