China is likely responsible for another internet slander campaign targeting MPs, the second attack of its kind in four months, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. China swamped MPs’ social media accounts with libelous remarks, it said.

“It likely seeks to discredit and denigrate the targeted MPs through seemingly organic posts alleging impropriety by posting waves of social media posts and videos that call into question the political and ethical standards of the MPs,” the department said in a statement. “It likely seeks to silence criticism of the Chinese Communist Party by getting MPs to distance themselves from the critic and discouraging wider online communities from engaging with them.”