3,000 Accounts Posting, Spreading Content Critical of Japan on X; May Be China-backed Operation

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:43 JST, February 23, 2026

A group of around 3,000 accounts have been coordinating to post and spread content criticizing the Japanese government’s policies, especially those of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a social media analysis company has revealed, with the activity possibly backed by China.

The survey was conducted by Japan Nexus Intelligence Inc., a Tokyo-based company that analyzes online public discourse. According to the survey, the group of accounts started posting about a week before the House of Representatives election campaign kicked off on Jan. 27.

The accounts, posting in both Japanese and English, have spread claims such as that the prime minister is buying votes from the Unification Church, that she has paved the way for a military buildup and historical revisionism, and that the social security burden on young people will increase.

About 1,000 accounts have made such posts, while the remaining 2,000 or so repost them.

Some of the Japanese-language posts show traces of translation, while others contained unnatural Japanese and Chinese characters that are only used in China. The survey also found images used in that posts that had been published on Chinese state media and blogs in China, as well as images that appeared to be created using generative artificial intelligence.

Each account only posts, reposts or replies once or a few times. In its analysis, the company said, “If a large number of posts are made from the same account, the platform operator can flag this as fraud and freeze the account. Therefore, it appears that multiple accounts are being used to limit each account’s posts.”

The company also believes that the accounts’ activities are ongoing and will probably be long-term operations.