r/InternationalNews • u/speakhyroglyphically • Jul 26 '24
International US admitted it spread anti-vax COVID propaganda in Philippines to disparage China
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/07/26/covid-vaccine-us-china-propaganda/74555829007/208
u/Sometymez Jul 26 '24
So misinformation campaign by Russia bad, US misinformation campaign playing a part in the death of 67,000 Filipinos good?
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u/reverielagoon1208 Jul 26 '24
It is sad that a lot of Americans don’t even realize they’re under alot of heavy propaganda. Not even a conservative or liberal thing. People think the U.S. is the only place with diversity in the world, think no place has more “freedom” or higher living standards or whatever
Its pretty sickening
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Jul 27 '24 edited Aug 15 '24
ruthless historical governor whole butter rob fertile carpenter afterthought birds
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/pipyet Jul 26 '24
Yes. And if you ask a democrat or republican they will see nothing wrong with your statement. Obviously the democrat will say “yeah but that was under trump administration” to save themselves from accepting the fact that US uses the same tactics it hates Russia for using.
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u/NoMomo Jul 27 '24
US still chasing that high they got from getting a million indonesians killed in the sixties.
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u/inb4shitstorm Jul 27 '24
It's funny because Reddit is such an echo chamber for Russia/China bad, America good propaganda too. Everything is handwaved away as 'Russian bots' with no introspective whatsoever.
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u/EH1987 Jul 26 '24
US aiming to reach the Challenger Deep of moral bankruptcy.
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u/KHaskins77 Jul 26 '24
Seems to be the consensus of American youth. A dying empire led by bad people.
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u/SAGElBeardO Jul 26 '24
BUT Russia
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u/chefanubis Jul 27 '24
Russia is still objectively worse by any metric you want to measure it.
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u/Sometymez Jul 27 '24
How about the metric of lying about vaccines and contributing to the deaths of 67,000 Filipinos?
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u/speakhyroglyphically Jul 26 '24
Washington, D.C. July 26, 2024 - The U.S. Defense Department admitted it spread propaganda in the Philippines aimed at disparaging China’s Sinovac vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a June 25 document cited by a former top government official earlier this month.
The U.S. response to the Philippines was recounted in a podcast by Harry Roque, who served as spokesman for former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Reuters subsequently reviewed the document, which hasn’t been publicly released by either government. The news agency was able to verify its contents with a source familiar with the U.S. response.
“It is true that the (Department of Defense) did message Philippines audiences questioning the safety and efficacy of Sinovac,” according to the document, which references information sent from the U.S. Defense Department to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of National Defense. According to the document, the Pentagon also conceded it had “made some missteps in our COVID-related messaging” but assured the Philippines that the military “has vastly improved oversight and accountability of information operations” since 2022.
The U.S. admission followed a June 14 Reuters investigation that revealed how the Pentagon launched a secret psychological operation to discredit Chinese vaccines and other COVID-19 aid in 2020 and 2021, at the height of the pandemic.
Through phony internet accounts with tens of thousands of followers meant to impersonate Filipinos, social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and China's Sinovac shot. As a result of the Reuters investigation, the Philippine Senate Foreign Relations Committee launched a hearing into the matter and sought a response from the U.S.
...
The clandestine psychological operation uncovered by Reuters wasn’t limited to the Philippines. It also targeted developing countries across Central Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia in 2020 and 2021. The Philippines and those other nations were, at the time, heavily reliant on China’s Sinvoac to inoculate their populations against the deadly virus.
In Southeast Asia, the Philippines was among the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus. By 2024, COVID-19 had killed almost 67,000 Filipinos, and the number of infections there had reached more than 4 million, according to World Health Organization data.
In the wake of the U.S. propaganda efforts, however, then-Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte had grown so dismayed by how few Filipinos were willing to be inoculated that he threatened to arrest people who refused vaccinations.
“You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed,” a masked Duterte said in a televised address in June 2021. “There is a crisis in this country … I’m just exasperated by Filipinos not heeding the government.”
Reuters identified a network of hundreds of fake accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that closely matched descriptions shared by former U.S. military officials familiar with the Philippines operation. When Reuters asked X about the accounts, the social media company removed the profiles after independently determining they were part of a coordinated bot campaign.... (more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/07/26/covid-vaccine-us-china-propaganda/74555829007/
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u/Charlirnie Jul 26 '24
People need to really question everything the US does or says. Chances are its not good and if it is its only due to convenience.
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u/3xploringforever Jul 26 '24
The clandestine psychological operation uncovered by Reuters wasn’t limited to the Philippines. It also targeted developing countries across Central Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia in 2020 and 2021.
This warrants a full Congressional Inquiry.
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u/Candid-String-6530 Jul 27 '24
Gotta question the current anti China sentiment in the region. Is it also manufactured by the US like this?
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Jul 27 '24
i know it shouldn't surprise me that the us did something like this but i can't help but be appalled by the lengths the us will go to to make china look bad. our government got 67,000 filipinos killed, all because they didn't like china. everyone involved should be taken to court.
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u/Zozozozozs Aug 02 '24
The corporate profits are worth fighting for. Media are just a good tool for the corporate overlords who own and pick content and could not let any other pharmaceutical companies sell there product cut and dry .
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