Supporters of Honduras' presidential candidate for the Libertad y Refundacion (LIBRE) party, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, attend a campaign rally in the municipality of Orica, department of Francisco Morazan, 75 km northeast of Tegucigalpa, on October 24, 2021.Photo: VCG

Ahead of the upcoming presidential election in Honduras scheduled for the end of November, social networks have been suddenly flooded by an online "water army" in support of the incumbent Honduran authorities. Behind the campaign, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities on the island of Taiwan are likely to have played a role, the Global Times has found.

The ongoing disinformation campaign can be noticed in major media outlets. There have been clusters of Twitter accounts sharing identical rumors while claiming to be supporters of opposition candidate Xiomara Castro, TIME reported on Monday, pointing out that none of the posts were made by real people but are coordinated posts from fake accounts to deter citizens from voting. 

As part of the disinformation campaign, the coordinated fake network of at least 317 Twitter accounts uncovered by cybersecurity analysts focused on discouraging Hondurans from voting for Castro, according to TIME. 

However, this is likely only the tip of the iceberg about the truth of this online "water army." Upon further investigation, the Global Times found that these leads further point to the DPP authorities in the island of Taiwan as they fear the loss of "diplomatic relations" with Honduras if its ruling party is defeated in the election.

In addition to the 317 accounts exposed by the US cybersecurity firm, a large number of bot accounts have long been cooped up in the Twitter comments section of the current Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez. 

Most of these accounts were created only a few months ago. For example, after Hernandez posted photos of his meeting with Taiwan's regional leader Tsai Ing-wen, four accounts posted similar messages in support of "the friendship between Honduras and Taiwan" at about the same time. 

The Global Times found that the four accounts hardly ever posted any original content and the retweets were highly overlapped, showing the characteristics of bot accounts. 

More importantly, these accounts operate in the same pattern as Taiwan DPP's infamous online water army, also known as "1450", which has interfered in other countries' politics and public opinion about international affairs in recent years, experts told the Global Times.

"Judging from the registration time, posting characteristics, content and direction, it can be basically concluded that these accounts are bot accounts deliberately set up," Lei Xiying, Director of the China Cross-Strait Academy, told the Global Times, adding that "they operate in a way very similar to the DPP's 'water army'."

During the 2020 US presidential election, the group supported Donald Trump and smeared Biden on social networks with the same routine. In early 2020, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus exposed in a news conference that the DPP's "water army" had made personal attacks and racist insults against him.

"The DPP's cyber army may have intervened in the current Honduran presidential election and disrupted its results in the same way," Lei concluded. 

Media reports show that in September, Xiomara Castro, presidential candidate of the opposition, said she would sever ties with the island of Taiwan, abide by the one-China principle, and establish diplomatic relations with the Chinese mainland if she won the election.

It was also precisely after Castro's comments that false accounts with fake news slandering her proliferated on the internet.

In this regard, Lei believes that either the DPP cyber army directly intervened in the layout and operation, or the professionals behind the extreme cyber army provided technical guidance and expertise to Hernandez's campaign team.

"Their ultimate goal is to replicate the tried-and-true pattern of manipulating public opinion in the island to influence Honduran public opinion, and thus maintain the already fragile relations between Honduras and the island of Taiwan," Lei said. 

Honduras, one of the last 15 countries and regions to keep "diplomatic ties" with the island of Taiwan under US pressure, actually has increasingly shaky relations with the DPP authority. In May 2021, Honduras asked El Salvador for help to get vaccines from the Chinese mainland as it was hit by shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic.