Chinese Agents Spread False Messages About Coronavirus Cures, Fake Trump Lockdown: Report

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Chinese agents helped to spread false information and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus on social media and in text messages to Americans, according to a Wednesday report from The New York Times.

The messages, which were spread on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp beginning in mid-March, included false information “that the virus originated in a U.S. Army laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland, that it can be killed with garlic water, vitamin C or colloidal silver, [and] that it thrives on ibuprofen,” according to national security officials who spoke with the Times.

One official told the publication American intelligence agencies were looking at whether Chinese diplomats participated in the operation, a revelation that comes in the wake of already heightened scrutiny of Chinese diplomats and media organizations. The State Department in February classified five state-backed Chinese media organizations as foreign missions, subjecting them to stricter rules for operating in the U.S. In September, the department expelled two employees from the Chinese Embassy in Washington suspected of spying.

Officials said the messages appeared to amplify existing conspiracy theories rather than creating new ones, and included the claim that President Donald Trump was preparing to deploy the National Guard to impose a week-long national quarantine. That concern prompted the National Security Council to issue a March 15 denial on Twitter, writing, “Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown.” The White House issued a similar denial the subsequent day.

Samantha Vinograd, who served on President Barack Obama’s NSC staff, claimed she had received some of the messages. “I received several texts from loved ones about content they received containing various rumors — they were explicitly asked to share it with their networks,” Vinograd wrote on Twitter. “I advised them to do the opposite. Misinfo is not what we need right now — from any source foreign or domestic.”

In a Tuesday statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied China’s involvement, writing, “The relevant statements are complete nonsense and not worth refuting.”