Were Filipino translators hired for US anti-vax campaign? Expert seeks answers

MANILA, Philippines — A disinformation expert urged a Senate committee on Tuesday to investigate the possibility that subcontractors from the Philippines helped craft the messages that were used in the Pentagon's alleged anti-vaccination campaign against China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking before the Senate foreign relations committee, disinformation researcher Jonathan Ong pointed out that the recent Reuters report that detailed the covert influence operation by the United States military cited examples of posts that were translated into local languages, including Filipino. 

"We need to ask therefore if there is the possibility of subcontractors enlisted by the US military? Who are they, and where are they located?" Ong said.

The Reuters investigation said that the Pentagon's secret campaign against China took place from 2020 to 2021 and involved the use of 300 fake social media accounts that impersonated Filipinos to spread fears of China-made vaccines. Most of the accounts were created in the summer of 2020 and spread the hashtag #Chinaangvirus (China is the virus).

The accounts distributed content that aimed to malign the Sinovac vaccines developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech, as well as health supplies sent by China, according to the Reuters report, which cited former US officials familiar with the operation.

Ong said that the fake accounts appeared to use "insider jokes and cultural knowledge that would resonate with local citizens and communities" in the Philippines and other targeted countries. These posts have since been taken down by X, according to the Reuters report.

"It's important for us to track down potential in-country collaborators responsible for the translation and dissemination of these campaigns," Ong said.

The disinformation researcher also noted the importance of holding social media platforms accountable. "Did these social media platforms communicate this to the Philippine office? To any Philippine government official?"

Sen. Imee Marcos, who chairs the Senate foreign affairs panel, said that Ong's recommendations are "certainly leads we need to follow up on." 

There was little to no new information that surfaced during the Senate hearing that were not already revealed in the Reuters investigation. The Senate committee meeting did not have representatives from social media platforms that were invited to attend, namely Meta and X.

The committee secretary said that both companies responded to the invitation. "I was able to talk to the general counsel. She was on maternity leave. She told me to send an email to another person, but at the same time it bounced back," the committee secretary said.

But Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said that the department's "social listening" during the pandemic found that there were several posts that sought to fuel vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos. 

"We usually get these kinds of issues not just for COVID, but before COVID. We already had these issues in 2016," the DOH official said, referring to the Dengvaxia fiasco in 2016.

Vergeire said that the DOH sought to counter the social media posts with town hall meetings that could "directly and better inform citizens" about vaccines.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said that after reading the Reuters investigation, they reached out to the US embassy in the Philippines through its "regular consultation mechanism," but their initial response was to refer them to the US Department of Defense. — Cristina Chi