Chinese state media is exploiting a delay in Facebook's new advertising rules to spread coronavirus propaganda in strategically significant countries, including British allies.

The social media giant had planned to crack down on political adverts in 32 nations, bringing them into line with the stricter rules it already imposes in sensitive markets such as US, the UK, the European Union and Taiwan.

But the pandemic has forced Facebook to delay that plan, allowing China's state-backed spinners to continue bombarding those countries with unlabeled political ads that might otherwise be taken down.

Earlier this month The Telegraph revealed how Chinese state media outlets had sidestepped and sometimes evaded Facebook’s ad rules, running anti-American attack ads without carrying any political disclaimer.

Yet further analysis by the Telegraph found significant differences in China's tactics between different countries, with ads shown in places where the rules are not yet in force being far more likely to criticise the US, attack Donald Trump or focus personally on China's president, Xi Jinping.

In particular, China Global Television Network (CGTN), a state-controlled broadcaster currently under investigation by Ofcom, has repeatedly bought suites of more aggressive ads that seem to never to have run in any market protected by Facebook's stricter standards.

The “delayed” countries targeted by CGTN included Western allies such as Japan and Australia, and countries where China has diplomatic designs such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines. Some ads were also shown in some British overseas territories, including Anguilla, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Although it is difficult to know CGTN's true intent, the pattern suggests that it may be deliberately tailoring its output to skirt Facebook’s rules by reserving certain messages for countries where they will not break the rules.