The U.S. charged 44 defendants over an alleged Chinese campaign to harass its citizens in New York and around the country who espoused anti-government views, part of a broader effort to push back on Beijing’s efforts to target dissidents beyond its borders.
The defendants, who live in China and elsewhere in Asia, created fake social media accounts to intimidate Chinese dissidents living abroad and sought to suppress their speech on the platform of a U.S. telecommunications company that wasn’t identified. They include 42 Chinese officials and remain at large.
“These cases demonstrate the lengths the PRC government will go to silence and harass U.S. persons who exercise their fundamental rights to speak out against PRC oppression, including by unlawfully exploiting a U.S.-based technology company,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said, using China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
