Pentagon anti-Sinovac campaign

Timeline

1. 2019 · Context

   Reuters reports that Defense Secretary Mark Esper signed a secret order letting commanders run psychological operations against China and Russia without State Department approval.

2. Spring 2020 · It worked

   Reuters reports that Special Operations Command Pacific, under Gen. Jonathan Braga, turned to psychological-warfare staff and contractors in Tampa to start the anti-vaccine campaign. A senior military officer told Reuters: "We were looking at how we could drag China through the mud."

3. Summer 2020 · It worked

   Most of the roughly 300 X accounts are created. They post in Tagalog under the hashtag #Chinaangvirus ("China is the virus"), including "From China - PPE, Face Mask, Vaccine: FAKE. But the Coronavirus is real." Facebook warns the military that its fake accounts are easy to identify.

4. Mar-Apr 2021 · It worked

   Sinovac becomes available in the Philippines in March. The campaign also pushes the pork-gelatin claim to Muslim audiences, including an April 2021 post asking whether China could be trusted. Sinovac said its vaccine contained no porcine materials, and many Islamic authorities held that vaccines were permissible regardless.

5. Spring 2021 · Exposed

   After Facebook officials meet the Biden National Security Council, the White House orders the military to stop anti-vaccine messaging. Some posts continue into the summer; the DoD document says messaging stopped in August 2021, and an internal review began in late 2021 after administration complaints.

6. 14 Jun 2024 · Exposed

   Reuters publishes "Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic". A Pentagon spokeswoman says the military "uses a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter those malign influence attacks". X removes the accounts.

7. Jun-Jul 2024 · Exposed

   The Philippine Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Imee Marcos, holds a hearing on 25 June. Reuters reports on 29 July a Defense Department document dated 25 June saying the department "did message Philippines audiences questioning the safety and efficacy of Sinovac" and "made some missteps". Spokesman Pete Nguyen says a review found the military "was not responsible for the troubling social media content related to the Philippines".

The accounts ran for about a year with no attribution; the military's own part was acknowledged only after a news investigation, and the Pentagon still disputes which posts were its own.

“We were looking at how we could drag China through the mud.”

The playbook

1. 1

   Sockpuppet amplification

   Roughly 300 X accounts, with Facebook and Instagram profiles, posed as Filipinos and repeated the same messages in Tagalog.

2. 2

   Hidden messenger

   The posts carried no sign of a US military origin; Reuters reports they were run by psychological-operations staff and contractors.

3. 3

   Planted story

   Claims such as "the Vaccine also came from China, don't trust China" and the pork-gelatin claim for Muslim audiences were seeded into local conversation as ordinary opinion.

Through the FATE framework

• Focus6/10

  Attention was pointed at the origin of masks, test kits and vaccines instead of their safety record.

• Authority3/10

  The posts leaned on ordinary-user voices more than on named experts.

• Tribe7/10

  "China is the virus" set Filipinos against China, and the pork claim targeted a religious group.

• Emotion8/10

  The posts played on fear and distrust during a pandemic that was killing thousands in the country.

Propaganda techniques used

• Doubt
• Appeal to Fear/Prejudice
• Name Calling/Labeling

Same playbook today