China is using a coordinated network of inauthentic social media accounts to shape public opinion surrounding the Beijing Winter Olympics, according to an investigation by The New York Times and ProPublica. The country deployed over 3,000 fake Twitter accounts to spread messages aimed to engender positive opinion of the Winter Olympics, including sharing Chinese state media posts that paint an idyllic picture of the events, according to the investigation. The accounts were reportedly created very recently and typically have few followers. “For the Chinese Communist Party, the Winter Olympics are inseparable from the broader political goal of building up the…