New Report Documents Anti-Falun Gong Disinformation Network; Australian Prime Minister Threatened

Case study showing the placement and dissemination of an article targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun amplified by likely Spamouflage-linked accounts. (Credit: Graphika)

Dear Reader,

A new report from the network analysis firm Graphika has exposed a China-linked disinformation network using fake Western media websites. A key target of the network, according to the study, was Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts. False news articles smearing Falun Gong and Shen Yun were seeded and amplified in an influence operation aimed at deceiving Americans and global audiences. Platforms, policymakers, and researchers should treat these findings as a clear warning sign of the sophistication and reach of Beijing’s ongoing disinformation targeting Falun Gong.

Nor do the tactics stop with just disinformation. On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was evacuated from his residence in Canberra for several hours following a bomb threat trying to sabotage an upcoming set of Shen Yun performances in the country. The anonymous message threatened: “If you insist on proceeding with the Shen Yun performance, then the Prime Minister’s Lodge will be blown into ruins where blood flows like a river.” Police conducted a full security sweep and found no explosives.

Also in this issue:

To celebrate Chinese New Year, Falun Gong practitioners and supporters in more than 100 countries sent their greetings to Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of the practice.
Previously tortured in custody, a 72-year-old grandmother was sentenced to two years in Shandong Province Women’s Prison for practicing Falun Gong.
As the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan come to a close, we remember folk singer-songwriter Yu Zhou, a Falun Gong practitioner, who tragically died in custody during a city-wide “clean-up” before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His wife, Xu Na, remains imprisoned at Beijing Women’s Prison today.

Finally, I’d like to share my recent interview video with NTD newsroom, discussing escalated transnational repression, such as a recent death threat to our organization and a two-decade global campaign targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Sincerely,

Levi Browde, Executive Director
Falun Dafa Information Center

FEATURE STORY

Graphika Finds Evidence of Anti-Falun Gong, Shen Yun Disinformation Linked to China

Case study showing the placement and dissemination of an article targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun amplified by likely Spamouflage-linked accounts. (Credit: Graphika)

What’s new?

A new investigation by the network analysis firm Graphika has uncovered a coordinated online disinformation network targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts. In its report, Glass Onion: Peeling Back the Layers of a Pro-China Online Ecosystem, researchers identified 43 domains and 37 subdomains impersonating prominent Western media outlets, including spoofed versions of The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and United Nations–branded news platforms.

The network, linked to the Chinese government-aligned “Spamouflage” (also known as DRAGONBRIDGE) operation, promoted fabricated narratives attacking Shen Yun and repeating long-standing anti–Falun Gong claims. Technical analysis revealed shared infrastructure, including IP addresses and hosting services associated with Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba Group and Tencent. Prior research by Mandiant (now Google Threat Intelligence Group) identified similar overlaps between spoofed media domains and pro-Beijing influence campaigns.

Why does it matter?

Beijing launders propaganda through counterfeit “news” brands, then amplifies it across Western social media ecosystems to manufacture credibility for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while smearing critics and persecuted communities. The impact of this strategy extends to Internet users worldwide. In addition to distorting what people know about China or overseas targets of the regime’s transnational repression, spoofed journalism slowly erodes confidence in legitimate media and weakens democratic information spaces.

“This is not simply online disinformation,” said Levi Browde, Executive Director of the Falun Dafa Information Center (Faluninfo). “The campaign we see today is a blueprint for how a hostile influence operation run by Beijing can launder propaganda through fake ‘news’ brands and then use coordinated inauthentic accounts to push it into Western information ecosystems.”

What else do you need to know?

This campaign is not an isolated incident. The Graphika report notes that Falun Gong, Shen Yun, and Falun Gong’s founder, “are perennial targets of PRC-backed influence operations and transnational repression.”

For example, researchers have also identified coordinated amplification by inauthentic accounts on X and Facebook—profiles with stock images, minimal followers, and synchronized posting patterns. These manipulations were covered by the Faluninfo last year, when the X platform removed thousands of bot accounts targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun.

EVENTS

Bomb Threat Forces Evacuation of Australian Prime Minister Amid Escalating Shen Yun-Linked Intimidation

On Feb. 24, a Chinese-language bomb threat message triggered the evacuation of the Australian Prime Minister’s residence in Canberra; the threat was made as a form of intimidation, warning Australia not to allow Shen Yun to perform. Police conducted a full security sweep at The Lodge and found no explosives. The next day, news broke that the Gold Coast Home of the Performing Arts Centre was also evacuated before a Shen Yun performance due to a separate Chinese threat. No one was harmed.

Australian PM Albanese is the sixth world leader to be targeted since January 2026. These incidents are the latest in over 134 documented anonymous threats that have been sent targeting elected officials, theaters, and civilians in connection with Shen Yun performances across multiple countries. The messages have all been false alarms but nevertheless serve to intimidate and increase security costs.

Over the past two months, other cases of transnational repression have targeted Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters, including physical assaults, diplomatic interference in Europe, and other threats.

AROUND THE WORLD

Year of the Horse Greetings to Falun Gong Founder from Around the World

On Feb. 21, during the 2026 NYC Chinese New Year Celebration Parade in Flushing, NY, Falun Gong practitioners presented the banner “Wishing Revered Master Happy Chinese New Year!” (Dai Bin)

This month, Falun Gong practitioners and supporters in over 100 countries sent heartfelt greetings to Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of the practice. They wished him a happy Chinese New Year, thanked him for introducing the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and credited the practice with transforming their lives, improving their physical and mental well-being, and guiding them through life’s challenges with wisdom and clarity.

In cities across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, practitioners marked the holiday with large parades, group exercise demonstrations, and community gatherings. Many recorded greeting videos and shared group photos to convey their collective appreciation. From mainland China, numerous greetings arrived in the forms of calligraphy, paintings, e-cards, poems, and personal reflections.

PERSECUTION IN CHINA

Grandmother Sentenced to Prison Again in Shandong for Practicing Falun Gong

Ms. Wang Guirong, a grandmother living in Shouguang, Shandong Province, has been sentenced to two years in prison for practicing Falun Gong. On Feb. 5, she was transferred to Shandong Province Women’s Prison following her September 2025 arrest by local Domestic Security officers.

According to reporting by Minghui.org and Weiquanwang, a website aggregating grassroots accounts of human rights abuses in China, Ms. Wang was previously forced into hiding due to repeated harassment and prosecution. Between 2003 and 2006, she served a three-year prison term, during which she endured electric baton shocks, beatings, and forced labor. Over the past two decades, she has also been subjected to psychiatric abuse, arbitrary detention, and coercion targeting her family members.

Have you read this? Mr. Yu Zhou’s Death in Custody

Eighteen years ago, on Feb. 6, 2008, Mr. Yu Zhou—a 42-year-old musician and singer from the Xiao Juan & Residents of the Valley band—died in custody after just 11 days of detention by Chinese security authorities in Beijing. His arrest came amid the Chinese regime’s sweeping “security” campaign to cleanse the capital ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics, drawing international attention.

In its 2008 Human Rights Report, the United States Department of State documented the case:

“On February 6, authorities reportedly instructed the family of Falun Gong practitioner Yu Zhou, who had been arrested in Beijing on January 26, to come to an emergency center to see him. Yu was dead when the family arrived, and authorities claimed he had died of diabetes. However, Yu’s family stated that he was healthy at the time of his arrest and that authorities refused the family’s request for an autopsy.”

Nearly two decades later—following the close of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 22—Yu’s case remains heavily censored in China. His wife, Xu Na, continues to serve a prison sentence at Beijing Women’s Prison for practicing Falun Gong and sharing information with overseas media about conditions in China during COVID-19 lockdowns.