Chinese spies using LinkedIn to target British lawmakers, MI5 warns

Britain’s domestic spy service, MI5, warned lawmakers on Tuesday that China’s intelligence services are posing as recruiters to target people who work in Parliament, just weeks after the collapse of a case against two British nationals accused of spying for Beijing.

In an alert, MI5 said that the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) was using websites like LinkedIn to build relationships with parliamentarians, in an effort to “collect sensitive information on the UK to gain strategic advantage.”

Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, circulated the MI5 alert to Members of Parliament (MPs) and warned that Chinese state actors were “relentless” in their efforts to “interfere with our processes and influence activity at Parliament.” He listed two headhunters known to use LinkedIn profiles to “conduct outreach at scale” on behalf of Beijing.

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