A Pentagon-approved bot attack attempted to thwart global COVID-19 vaccinations, report finds

According to a new investigative report by Reuters, the Pentagon ran a year-long vaccine disinformation campaign using social media bots — all part of an anti-China political play built on problematic COVID-19 disinformation. One part of a larger, locally-targeted anti-vax campaign around the world, the propaganda efforts sought to discredit the validity of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine among internet users in the Philippines, where the vaccine had been deployed. Messaging included the phrase #Chinaangvirus, reportedly Tagalog slang for “China is the virus.” SEE ALSO: How do we navigate climate disinformation online? Reuters reports that the campaign was reportedly run to “undermine China’s growing influence in the Philippines,” after the vaccines and other public health interventions were made readily available. The efforts “aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy” of such aid. The strategy was greenlit by a secret order signed by then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper — elevating China and Russia to the priority of “active combat” and allowing for non-State Department-sanctioned psyops. At least 300 fake accounts impersonating Filipinos were active on X/ Twitter between spring 2020 and mid-2021, right before a period of record deaths in the country — the platform later removed all of the accounts after being asked about their existence by Reuters. “We weren’t looking at this from a public health perspective. We were looking at how we could drag China through the mud,” an anonymous senior military officer told the publication. A wider network of bots and fake accounts created by the…A Pentagon-approved bot attack attempted to thwart global COVID-19 vaccinations, report finds