The first trend involves what Kempton called "inauthentic and co-ordinated" amplification of content related to the Hong Kong bounty and an arrest warrant against Tay, as well as material about his competence to hold political office.

Federal officials told a media briefing Monday the operation is taking place on social media platforms where Chinese-speaking users in Canada are active, including Facebook, WeChat, TikTok, RedNote and Douyin, a sister app of TikTok for the Chinese market.

"We've seen that multiple accounts or platforms published or interacted with content at similar times and dates, sometimes within minutes or even seconds of each other," Kempton said.