At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus.

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.

  • @[email protected]
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    266 months ago

    To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal

    Henry Kissinger

    • @SkybreakerEngineer
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      276 months ago

      Also Kissinger: let’s do even more of that, and drop bombs on random grid squares just to be a dick

      • @Cosmonauticus
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        216 months ago

        Can we start adding war criminal next to war criminal Henry Kissinger’s name like we do with convicted rapist Brock Turner?

        • @Zehzin
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          6 months ago

          Honestly, war criminal doesn’t even cut it. Dude is a class of piece of shit on his own. One of the largest shitstains on the toilet bowl of history

    • @mlg
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      06 months ago

      SEATO members