Timeline

As of 22 October 2026

Event dates and disclosure dates are kept apart. The activity ran from late September to 8 October 2026; Tencent spoke on 16 October 2026.

Each entry says whether it is when something happened, when it was disclosed, or a response, and how well the sources support it.

The activity: September to October 2026

1. 28 September 2026Happened

   The first Amap-related activity by the fleet that Swarmchasers recorded.^[1]

2. 4 October 2026Disclosed

   Swarmchasers posts preliminary findings while the fleet is still running.^[1]

3. 5 October 2026Disclosedreported

   TechCrunch reports that researchers are tracking a Chinese AI agent fleet.^[2]

4. 8 October 2026Happened

   The last fleet activity Swarmchasers saw.^[1]

The full report and Tencent's answer: October 2026

1. 14 October 2026Disclosed

   Swarmchasers publishes its full report, linking the fleet to Tencent Cloud.^[1]

2. 15 October 2026Disclosedreported

   TNW and Decrypt report the findings. TNW notes that Tencent has not given the researchers an official reply.^[3][4]

3. 16 October 2026Responsereported

   Tencent says, in a statement posted on social media, that the browsing was not intended and that it is strengthening network access controls and agent monitoring. Its AI unit, Tencent Hunyuan, says on X that its Hunyuan models were not involved. Alibaba declines to comment.^[5][6][7]

4. 22 October 2026Disclosedreported

   The South China Morning Post's report, carried by The Star, quotes Tencent's statement and an unnamed source on the evaluation team.^[7]