By Poppy McPherson and Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) -As Chinese ships fired water cannons at Philippine vessels in the South China Sea in November 2021, Beijing's then-ambassador to Manila asked Filipinos on Facebook to share their favorite things about China. Among the hundreds of gushing responses were three from a young man named “Vince Dimaano.” His comments – like many responding to the Chinese embassy’s posts – weren’t genuine. They came from fake accounts paid for by the diplomatic mission, according to internal documents from a Manila-based marketing agency. The firm, InfinitUs Marketing Solutions, waged a cyber campaign paid for by China to weaken support for Philippine government policy and to sow discord over Manila’s security alliance with the United States, according to a review of the documents and the fake Facebook accounts, as well as interviews with two former company employees and two Philippine officials. The Chinese-owned company also used the fake profiles to amplify anti-American content created by Filipino writers, including some who had received money from Beijing, Reuters found. InfinitUs and its owner Paul Li did not respond to questions. The company has previously denied any involvement with “illicit digital activity.” A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters that Beijing doesn’t interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Allegations of Chinese influence campaigns made by some Filipino politicians “have failed and instead have backfired,” the spokesperson said. The explosion of social media has turbocharged influence operations in the Philippines, according to Jonathan Malaya, until recently a senior official with the Philippine National Security Council. Manila is of increasing strategic importance to Washington and Beijing due to its proximity to Taiwan. China’s leaders have asked their military to be ready to seize the democratically governed island by 2027. InfinitUs first came under the spotlight at an April Senate hearing, when then-Majority Leader Francis Tolentino accused it of using fake accounts to boost the embassy’s profile and conduct an “influence operation” against the Philippines. Tolentino produced a copy of a check from the embassy to InfinitUs and highlighted posts by accounts that Reuters later identified as inauthentic, but he did not elaborate further. The scope of InfinitUs’s activities went beyond the pro-China propaganda that Tolentino alleged, Reuters reporting revealed. Its work included disparaging the U.S.-Philippine alliance and Western-made COVID vaccines. The news agency also uncovered that InfinitUs had created Ni Hao Manila, a media outlet designed to look Filipino-run, according to the former employees. InfinitUs employees used accounts masquerading as pro-Beijing Filipinos to attack the U.S. and abuse a prominent nationalist lawmaker, the profiles and company records show. The documents include an August 2023 contract tasking InfinitUs with “guiding public opinion” on Facebook and X, as well as work-progress reports created for the embassy. Reuters identified at least ten Facebook accounts that were part of what InfinitUs called an “army” in the documents. The platform’s owner Meta did not comment on the influence campaign but confirmed the accounts violated policy and removed them after being alerted by the news agency. “ARMY ALWAYS SUPPORTS THE ADVOCACIES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CHINESE AMBASSADOR’S PAGE,” read one work-progress report, referring to the troll army. “Army propagated the special video explainer about the cons of the Typhon missile of the US being deployed (sic) the Philippines,” said another report from November 2024. The accounts also promoted pro-China content featuring Filipino media personalities. They include Rommel Banlaoi, a Chinese-educated counter-terrorism scholar whose 2022 nomination to be deputy national security advisor was successfully opposed by security officials. Banlaoi was among dozens of prominent Filipinos who have received awards from the Association of Philippines-China Understanding (APCU) since 2021. The organization was re-established by ex-Philippine president Gloria Arroyo and a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agency that the U.S. previously accused of "co-opting subnational governments." The embassy-funded awards came with thousands of dollars – multiples of the average Philippine monthly wage – APCU told Reuters. Banlaoi did not respond to questions. Asked about Reuters’ findings, Malaya – the Philippine official – said the government was aware “third-party proxies” echoed Chinese talking points that were then circulated by fake accounts “in an attempt to give it virality.” “The end goal (of China) is to make the Philippines compliant,” Tolentino told Reuters. The Philippines lacks robust foreign interference laws, though lawmakers are working on modernizing and expanding the rules so they also punish spreading disinformation. Potential penalties include heavy fines. The activities of the InfinitUs-controlled accounts fit China’s foreign influence playbook, said Bethany Allen of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think-tank, who has studied such information campaigns and reviewed Reuters’ findings. X and YouTube host many accounts “which promote ‘happy nice China’ content (and sometimes more directly political content),” she said in an email, adding that they usually did not disclose affiliation with Beijing despite likely being funded by the CCP. YouTube owner Alphabet and X did not return requests for comment. CHINA, U.S. WAGE INFORMATION WAR Both China and the U.S. have engaged in infowars over the Philippines. Reuters revealed last year the U.S. had operated a program during the pandemic to undermine Chinese vaccines in the Philippines, including through fake social-media accounts. The Chinese embassy said at that time that Washington should “stop slandering and smearing other countries." The U.S. has more recently slashed funding for programs aimed at countering Beijing’s propaganda. In April, the State Department shuttered an office that had worked closely with Manila to counter Chinese influence campaigns after Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused it of censorship and wasting funds. Manila had contributed to a database on Chinese operations run by the office, according to a Philippine official familiar with the matter. A State Department spokesperson told Reuters that Manila and Washington continue to cooperate against “malign CCP activities.” “Operations that undermine democratic discourse or spread discord are unacceptable” and foreign interference in the Philippines must be challenged, the spokesperson added. The White House said in a statement that its effort to “eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse has not hindered U.S. influence.” TROLL ARMY Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has, since taking office in 2022, forged closer security ties between Washington and Manila, a former colony that remains a key node in America’s Indo-Pacific defense strategy. The Philippines also maintains extensive cultural and economic links with neighboring China. Marcos Jr, who succeeded the pro-Beijing Rodrigo Duterte, has said that Manila would inevitably be pulled into any conflict over Taiwan. Manila has also taken a more assertive stance in its territorial dispute with Beijing, which claims almost the entire South China Sea. China has frequently disrupted – sometimes violently – operations of Philippine vessels in Manila’s exclusive economic zone. Marcos Jr’s foreign policy marked a sharp departure from his predecessor. While Duterte cozied up to China, Beijing rapidly militarized reclaimed islands in disputed waters and conducted aggressive maneuvers at sea. As China’s image in the Philippines suffered, its Manila mission turned to Infini…
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