In June 2026, France's national agency Viginum uncovered a covert Chinese influence operation named Fawn Mianju involving 13 fake news websites operated by China's state broadcaster CGTN. These sites, in English, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese, presented themselves as independent media but disseminated pro-China content emphasizing China's achievements, global leadership, and positive relations with Europe. Using AI-generated and adapted articles, the network published nearly 3,000 articles since late 2025, often rapidly republishing adapted versions across multiple sites. The network was linked to CGTN after a senior CGTN Digital project manager's login trail was found, along with a hidden page mimicking CGTN's official site. Despite distribution to Facebook and Threads users in 89 countries, the network achieved limited audience engagement, mainly from Burundi. Experts view this as a new model of subtle influence operations that mimic real journalism without typical propaganda traits.

In June 2026, France's national agency Viginum uncovered a covert Chinese influence operation named Fawn Mianju involving 13 fake news websites operated by China's state broadcaster CGTN. These sites, in English, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese, presented themselves as independent media but disseminated pro-China content emphasizing China's achievements, global leadership, and positive relations with Europe. Using AI-generated and adapted articles, the network published nearly 3,000 articles since late 2025, often rapidly republishing adapted versions across multiple sites. The network was linked to CGTN after a senior CGTN Digital project manager's login trail was found, along with a hidden page mimicking CGTN's official site. Despite distribution to Facebook and Threads users in 89 countries, the network achieved limited audience engagement, mainly from Burundi. Experts view this as a new model of subtle influence operations that mimic real journalism without typical propaganda traits.