What are these? I don't recall seeing this before. It's on a neighbor's Beech tree.

The little dark things are the bugs and they seem to hanging onto or emerging from the white fluffy stuff. In the breeze it looks like spiders but it's the fluffy stuff that's moving...

Enquiring minds want to know!

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"Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime."- Lavrentiy Beria

[en.wikipedia.org]

Beech Blight Aphid

"The aphids do not usually cause much damage to overall tree health, but dieback is occasionally seen on very heavily infested branches."