# Incident I00034: DibaFacebookExpedition

* **Summary:** In the Expedition, Diba engaged in a highly organized cyber-attack of a Taiwanese political leader. On January 20, 2016 (the day of President Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration) featuring the posting of an overwhelming number of social media comments in support of a PRC-sanctioned message. Netizens from one of the largest discussion forums in China, known as Diba, coordinated to overcome China’s Great Firewall to flood the Facebook pages of Taiwanese politicians and news agencies with a pro-PRC message, a cyberattack referred to as the “Diba Expedition to Facebook.” 

Unique for taking place outside of the Chinese Internet system, both transgressing technical and political norms while exposing their actions to an international audience. In spite of the transgressive nature of the action, “Diba Expedition” was highly praised by Chinese official media, in contrast to comparable activities in the past that lacked its explicit pro-government ideology. Yet—reflecting the complexity of Diba’s relationship with the PRC government—the Expedition was shut down after a few days.

* **incident type**: incident

* **Year started:** 2016.0

* **Countries:** China , Taiwan

* **Found via:** OII

* **Date added:** 2019-02-24


| Reference | Pub Date | Authors | Org | Archive |
| --------- | -------- | ------- | --- | ------- |

 

| Technique | Description given for this incident |
| --------- | ------------------------- |
| [T0002 Facilitate State Propaganda](../../generated_pages/techniques/T0002.md) | IT00000111 Netizens from one of the largest discussion forums in China, known as Diba, coordinated to overcome China’s Great Firewall |
| [T0049 Flood Information Space](../../generated_pages/techniques/T0049.md) | IT00000112 flood the Facebook pages of Taiwanese politicians and news agencies with a pro-PRC message |
| [T0049 Flood Information Space](../../generated_pages/techniques/T0049.md) | IT00000113 Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), attracted nearly 40,000 Facebook comments in just eight hours. |


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