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European law enforcement conducted raids at 14 properties across Barcelona (4), Madrid (9), and Toledo (1) in Spain, and one property in Zagreb in Croatia. These operations resulted in 30 arrests, among which were the leaders of the criminal network. In addition, EUR 180 000 in cash was also seized, alongside weapons, 70 passports, equipment to falsify passports and visas, narcotic substances, 10 high-end vehicles and 33 mobile phones. A total of 33 victims – Chinese and Vietnamese nationals – were also safeguarded.

This investigation builds on the dismantling of Europe’s largest Chinese prostitution ring in February 2023. Digital evidence seized during that operation has since then been meticulously analysed, including at a forensic sprint held at Europol’s headquarters in March 2023. During this sprint, experts from nine countries extracted tens of terabytes of data from hundreds of confiscated mobile phones.

The new intelligence provided unprecedented insights into the methods used by Chinese criminal networks in Europe, revealing a sophisticated division of labour and reliance on crime-as-a-service actors.

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Germany is under attack from China, a senior German opposition MP has warned, as Berlin grapples with a fresh wave of cyber attacks and espionage plots.

Roderich Kiesewetter, the crisis prevention spokesman for the centre-Right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said Germans needed to stop thinking of China as a “partner”.

“Many in Germany are turning a blind eye … China is no longer a partner, but a systemic rival that is attacking us,” Mr Kiesewetter, a former colonel in the Bundeswehr, told The Telegraph.

“Germany is at the centre of Chinese hybrid influence operations in Europe – it uses all the tools in its toolbox; espionage, sabotage, lawfare, repression and disinformation,” added Mr Kiesewetter, who is also the deputy chairman of the German parliament’s intelligence committee.

His comments are a major intervention in Germany, where China wields immense influence over the economy despite rising tensions over Beijing’s tacit support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and apparent plans to invade Taiwan.

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The sanctions reportedly entail a complete ban on broadcasting, distributing, and promoting the content of these outlets. E.U. Internet providers will be required to block access to these resources.

• RT and Sputnik are already under sanctions in Europe. Several other pro-Kremlin media outlets are banned in specific E.U. countries, mainly in the Baltic states.

• A day earlier, on January 28, Bloomberg reported that the next E.U. sanctions package could cut more Russian banks off from the SWIFT banking system and impose new restrictions on more than 70 “shadow fleet” tankers involved in shipping Russian oil.

Here is the link to the report: https://graphika.com/reports/chinese-state-influence

A Chinese social media operation that aims to whip up political anger in the West has called for the overthrow of a foreign government when impersonating protesters criticising flood relief efforts in Spain, online analysis outfit Graphika said.

Graphika said an operation dubbed Spamouflage, which it believed was linked to the Chinese state, posed this month as human rights group Safeguard Defenders to spread online calls for the government to be toppled in response to the catastrophic floods in October that killed 224 people.

"This is the first time we have seen Spamouflage directly calling to overthrow a foreign government," Graphika said in its latest report.

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The report also finds:

• Chinese covert influence operations have impersonated human rights organizations critical of Beijing, almost certainly in an effort to discredit their activities and disrupt domestic political conversations in Western countries. The state-linked Spamouflage operation, for instance, has repeatedly targeted the Spain-based non-profit Safeguard Defenders and in January posed as the organization to spread online calls for the Spanish government to be overthrown in response to deadly floods in Valencia. This is the first time we have seen Spamouflage directly calling for the overthrow of a foreign government.
• Chinese state influence actors and pro-China communities continue to leverage international trade issues in their efforts to advance Beijing’s strategic interests. In recent weeks, this has included attempts to orchestrate a boycott of Japanese retail brand Uniqlo due to the company’s reported refusal to use cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, and efforts to exacerbate tensions between the U.S. and Japan over a blocked steel company merger.
• Chinese officials and state media have used social media and other online platforms to dismiss and deflect allegations of Chinese state hacking activity. After Japan accused China in January of orchestrating a years-long hacking campaign against Japanese government agencies and companies, for example, Chinese state actors spread statements dismissing the allegations as groundless and disseminated cartoons casting Tokyo as an agent of U.S. “disinformation.”
• Overt and covert Chinese state influence actors have engaged in a sustained effort to advance narratives that reinforce Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and attempt to legitimize its activities in the region. In November, these actors amplified comments by an international law scholar that appeared to support China’s position.

The Italian regulator, known as the Garante, said on Tuesday it wanted to know what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis and whether it is stored in China. It gave DeepSeek and its affiliated companies 20 days to respond.