The U.S.-focused activity was just a sliver of the accounts' overall activity and gained almost no following, Facebook said.
In the U.S, the accounts posted material both in support of and against presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden and President Donald Trump
In an August public assessment, the countrys chief counterintelligence official, William Evanina, said officials had determined that Beijing regards Trump as unpredictable and wants to see him lose to Biden.
The statement said that China had been expanding its influence operations ahead of the 2020 election to shape the policy environment in the United States and had been weighing the pros and cons of taking more aggressive action.
Notably, though, the intelligence assessment was more specific in its characterizations of Russian interference, saying that Moscow was using a range of measures to denigrate Biden and that Kremlin-linked actors were propping up Trumps candidacy on social media and Russian interference.
The question of which country poses the biggest threat to election security has emerged as a politically fraught issue.
Trump and several senior administration officials have repeatedly insisted that China is more aggressive, even though that characterization is not in line with the August intelligence assessment.
Facebook said the network focused mainly on Southeast Asia, where it posted in Chinese, Filipino and English about global news and current events.
These accounts posted in Filipino and English about local news and events including domestic politics, military activities against terrorism, a pending anti-terrorism bill, criticism of communism, youth activists and opposition, the company said.
Original article