A Reuters investigation has revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military secretly spread anti-vaccine propaganda in the Philippines to undermine China’s influence. Here’s an excerpt:
The clandestine operation has not been previously reported. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found. Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the military’s propaganda efforts morphed into an anti-vax campaign. Social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines – China’s Sinovac inoculation.
Reuters identified at least 300 accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that matched descriptions shared by former U.S. military officials familiar with the Philippines operation. Almost all were created in the summer of 2020 and centered on the slogan #Chinaangvirus – Tagalog for China is the virus.
“COVID came from China and the VACCINE also came from China, don’t trust China!” one typical tweet from July 2020 read in Tagalog. The words were next to a photo of a syringe beside a Chinese flag and a soaring chart of infections. Another post read: “From China – PPE, Face Mask, Vaccine: FAKE. But the Coronavirus is real.”
After Reuters asked X about the accounts, the social media company removed the profiles, determining they were part of a coordinated bot campaign based on activity patterns and internal data.
The U.S. military’s anti-vax effort began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021, Reuters determined. Tailoring the propaganda campaign to local audiences across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Pentagon used a combination of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms to spread fear of China’s vaccines among Muslims at a time when the virus was killing tens of thousands of people each day. A key part of the strategy: amplify the disputed contention that, because vaccines sometimes contain pork gelatin, China’s shots could be considered forbidden under Islamic law.
The military programme started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Reuters found – even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in Covid misinformation. The Biden White House issued an edict in spring 2021 banning the anti-vax effort, which also disparaged vaccines produced by other rivals, and the Pentagon initiated an internal review, Reuters found.
The U.S. military is prohibited from targeting Americans with propaganda, and Reuters found no evidence the Pentagon’s influence operation did so.
Spokespeople for Trump and Biden did not respond to requests for comment about the clandestine programme.
A senior Defense Department official acknowledged the U.S. military engaged in secret propaganda to disparage China’s vaccine in the developing world, but the official declined to provide details.
A Pentagon spokeswoman said the U.S. military “uses a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter those malign influence attacks aimed at the U.S., allies, and partners.” She also noted that China had started a “disinformation campaign to falsely blame the United States for the spread of COVID-19.”
In an email, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it has long maintained the U.S. Government manipulates social media and spreads misinformation.
Manila’s embassy in Washington did not respond to Reuters inquiries, including whether it had been aware of the Pentagon operation. A spokesperson for the Philippines Department of Health, however, said the “findings by Reuters deserve to be investigated and heard by the appropriate authorities of the involved countries.” Some aid workers in the Philippines, when told of the U.S. military propaganda effort by Reuters, expressed outrage.
Briefed on the Pentagon’s secret anti-vax campaign by Reuters, some American public health experts also condemned the programme, saying it put civilians in jeopardy for potential geopolitical gain. An operation meant to win hearts and minds endangered lives, they said.
“I don’t think it’s defensible,” said Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. “I’m extremely dismayed, disappointed and disillusioned to hear that the U.S. Government would do that,” said Lucey, a former military physician who assisted in the response to the 2001 anthrax attacks.
The effort to stoke fear about Chinese inoculations risked undermining overall public trust in Government health initiatives, including U.S.-made vaccines that became available later, Lucey and others said. Although the Chinese vaccines were found to be less effective than the American-led shots by Pfizer and Moderna, all were approved by the World Health Organisation. Sinovac did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
17 Comments
Oldest
NewestMost Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
MajorMajor
4 months ago
Well, the difference between the Asda chief and Rachel Thieves (erstwhile tea-lady at the Band of England) is that the former has to run a business while the latter does not.
Even fewer staff than they have now, perhaps. After all, although getting rid of boring jobs is probably alright, cutting back on service to customers isn’t. I don’t mind buying fuel from them, where there is no-one to see (no cash accepted – they require £100 up front on an account at their pumps), but they have a habit of cutting back on check-out staff in the small hours, so one can be in a queue for ages if you don’t want to do it all yourself in the store.
They do not “require £100 up front”. They get an authorisation for that amount from your credit/debit card provider, before you start fuelling. The amount is NOT debited from your account.
JXB
4 months ago
Labour = Marxist-Socialism… what did Lord Rose and the idiot voters in July expect?
Gezza England
4 months ago
But, but, but, Thieves had lots of support from business before the election. What’s that Sooty? They were not real business owners running proper businesses? Makes sense as how would anyone employing staff not see being forced to increase wages and pay extra employee tax not see her budget as anti-business and anti-growth. September’s CPI will be the low point before a steady rise, interest rate cuts will be glacial and mortgage rates will stay high due to borrowing costs. Looking forward to months of seeing the Lefties Ofcom force GB News to have on for balance – unlike the BBC etc – being torn to shreds.
Jabby Mcstiff
4 months ago
How long does a government last these days? They are bound to be aware of this and so any such awareness could easily bring about vandalistic or scorched earth tendencies. The bottled it up for a decade and now they want to splurge on it before they get ousted. The next government, if there ever is another election, will be even worse against a backdrop of even worse conditions.
Jabby Mcstiff
4 months ago
The whole gist of the last four years was ‘don’t be naive’. So don’t let naivete settle on you like a cloud again. If you are naive this time around then you don’t need me to tell you what you deserve. And bear in mind that your naivete and acquiescence has very negative effects on better people than you. They are likely to give you short shrift at the final reckoning.
Jabby Mcstiff
4 months ago
How may are left for even considering a fight. You thought it would carry on forever like Terry Wogan and Blankety Blank. I’m afraid it isn’t like that. You8 need to match or surpass every depiction of a Russian or north Korean engaged in mortal combat. If you don’t have it then you belong to the world of the dead and they will take care of you shortly. A big difference between saying shit and living by it.
It won’t just be supermarkets reviewing the number of employees they can afford. Any shop which has managed to survive on our devastated High Streets will be doing the same thing and most of them will conclude that they can’t generate the sales to pay the increased minimum wage, NI increases …. plus increased rents and council tax.
If Labour had intended to destroy local communities and town centres they couldn’t have done a better job of it.
So that’s obviously what they wanted.
adamcollyer
4 months ago
Of course he’s right BUT it’s fair to point out that Lord Rose is a Conservative peer.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Well, the difference between the Asda chief and Rachel Thieves (erstwhile tea-lady at the Band of England) is that the former has to run a business while the latter does not.
Rachel Thieves (nice one) couldn’t run a bath.
That’s not a problem, Lord Alli will pay for a bath filler for Thieves.
Even fewer staff than they have now, perhaps. After all, although getting rid of boring jobs is probably alright, cutting back on service to customers isn’t. I don’t mind buying fuel from them, where there is no-one to see (no cash accepted – they require £100 up front on an account at their pumps), but they have a habit of cutting back on check-out staff in the small hours, so one can be in a queue for ages if you don’t want to do it all yourself in the store.
They do not “require £100 up front”. They get an authorisation for that amount from your credit/debit card provider, before you start fuelling. The amount is NOT debited from your account.
Labour = Marxist-Socialism… what did Lord Rose and the idiot voters in July expect?
But, but, but, Thieves had lots of support from business before the election. What’s that Sooty? They were not real business owners running proper businesses? Makes sense as how would anyone employing staff not see being forced to increase wages and pay extra employee tax not see her budget as anti-business and anti-growth. September’s CPI will be the low point before a steady rise, interest rate cuts will be glacial and mortgage rates will stay high due to borrowing costs. Looking forward to months of seeing the Lefties Ofcom force GB News to have on for balance – unlike the BBC etc – being torn to shreds.
How long does a government last these days? They are bound to be aware of this and so any such awareness could easily bring about vandalistic or scorched earth tendencies. The bottled it up for a decade and now they want to splurge on it before they get ousted. The next government, if there ever is another election, will be even worse against a backdrop of even worse conditions.
The whole gist of the last four years was ‘don’t be naive’. So don’t let naivete settle on you like a cloud again. If you are naive this time around then you don’t need me to tell you what you deserve. And bear in mind that your naivete and acquiescence has very negative effects on better people than you. They are likely to give you short shrift at the final reckoning.
How may are left for even considering a fight. You thought it would carry on forever like Terry Wogan and Blankety Blank. I’m afraid it isn’t like that. You8 need to match or surpass every depiction of a Russian or north Korean engaged in mortal combat. If you don’t have it then you belong to the world of the dead and they will take care of you shortly. A big difference between saying shit and living by it.
So Liz Truss was correct with her budget then?
It won’t just be supermarkets reviewing the number of employees they can afford. Any shop which has managed to survive on our devastated High Streets will be doing the same thing and most of them will conclude that they can’t generate the sales to pay the increased minimum wage, NI increases …. plus increased rents and council tax.
If Labour had intended to destroy local communities and town centres they couldn’t have done a better job of it.
So that’s obviously what they wanted.
Of course he’s right BUT it’s fair to point out that Lord Rose is a Conservative peer.