Facebook says hackers in China used platform to spy on Uighur diaspora, stops short of blaming Beijing
Hackers based in China used Facebook to spy on the Uighur diaspora, the company announced Wednesday, though Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy stopped short of directly blaming the Chinese government. "We can see geographic attribution based on the activity, but we can't actually prove who's behind the operation," he told journalists, per NBC News.
China's Uighur population, a largely Muslim ethnic minority group in the northwest Xinjiang region, has been subject to human rights abuses in China for years. China denies any mistreatment, admitting only that members of the Uighur population are sent to "re-education camps." But there are reports detailing long prison stints, torture, forced labor, and sterilization. The Trump administration deemed what's happening in Xinjiang a genocide, and the Biden administration doesn't appear likely to change Washington's stance.
It appears that Uighurs outside Xinjiang are also being targeted. Mike Dvilyanski, Facebook's head of cyber espionage, told reporters that the hackers created Facebook personas "designed to look like journalists that focus on issues critical to the Uighur community, that are designed to look like activists that might be standing up for the Uighur community, designed to look like members of the community." Then, he said, they "use that as a way to trick them into clicking these links to expose their devices."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Again, Facebook says it has no evidence Beijing is aware of or behind the cyberattacks, but Steven Adair, the CEO of Volexity, a cybersecurity company that in 2019 published research that found China's hackers "had gone to extreme measures to hack and spy on Uighurs," didn't need much convincing, NBC News reports. "Who else would have the resources, the time, and effort to go after these people? If you told me it was Iceland, I'd be pretty surprised," he said. Read more at NBC News.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
'Make legal immigration a more plausible option'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
LA-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail line breaks ground
Speed Read The railway will be ready as soon as 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's military intelligence chief resigns
Speed Read Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first leader to quit for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Amazon ending 'Just Walk Out' grocery checkout
Speed Read In its place, the company will let customers scan while they shop with Amazon Dash Cart
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
TikTok: an agent of Chinese propaganda?
Why everyone's talking about US Senate to deliberate on bill that would ban the app or force its Chinese parent company to divest
By The Week UK Published
-
Justice Department bites Apple with iPhone suit
Speed Read The lawsuit alleges that the tech company monopolized the smartphone industry
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
House votes to force TikTok to sell or face US ban
speed read The House passed a bill to ban TikTok on national security grounds unless it sells to a non-Chinese company
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Apple kills its secret electric car project
Speed Read Many of the people from Project Titan are being reassigned to work on generative AI
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Cellphone use may be lowering sperm count
Speed Read Electromagnetic radiation could be affecting male fertility
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Nasa reveals first findings from asteroid that could explain origins of life
Speed Read Sample from Bennu has been found to contain an abundance of water and carbon
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published
-
China steals the spotlight at Apple's iPhone 15 launch
How will a directive from the Chinese government affect the tech giant?
By The Week Staff Published