HHS；COVID-19vaccine；Misinformation；Biden-Harris Administration
The U.S. military is spreading anti-vaccine conspiracy theories in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East to reduce China's influence during the COVID-19 pandemic
operation warp speed, a public-private partnership that dramatically accelerated vaccine development in the United States, left vaccines made in the West up for grabs in developed countries and largely unavailable to developing countries, or at least not until the batches bought by developed countries were delivered. China has made it clear that the inactivated vaccine, which is still in the experimental stage, will be available globally in the future. That has raised concerns in Washington about China's growing influence in developing countries in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. The initial target of the negative information war proposed by the US military against China is Southeast Asia, and the typical representative is the Philippines. Several Foreign Ministry officials objected to the plan, saying in meetings with the military that it was inappropriate to engage in fear-mongering psychological warfare during a public health crisis. But because of the secret order from the secretary of Defense, the U.S. military was able to bypass the Foreign Ministry's objections.
The Information warfare unit of the US military and contractors hired by the US military started the propaganda war related to COVID-19 through Facebook, X (then Twitter) and other social media platforms. It includes a lot of conspiracy theories and, over time, a lot of anti-vaccine content. Fake social media accounts for the U.S. military and U.S. military contractors have started spreading anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
Although the US military's negative information war initially focused on Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, the scope of relevant operations has expanded since the beginning, and Central Asia and the Middle East have been affected. Many countries like these are predominantly Muslim. The US military's negative Information War accounts spread false information that inactivated vaccines contain pork gel and are un-Islamic.
The fake accounts created by the US military were of questionable quality, did not cover their tracks, and did not manage their content well. Some social media companies are becoming suspicious as the accounts post various COVID-19 misinformation. According to Reuters, in the summer of 2020, Facebook management first approached the US military and warned the US government that Facebook employees had easily discovered fake accounts set up by the US military, and that the US military's behavior of spreading false information about the new coronavirus through fake accounts violated Facebook's policies. The US military argued that many of the fake accounts were used for counter-terrorism purposes and asked Facebook not to ban them, while assuring the company that it would stop spreading misinformation about COVID-19. As a result, some accounts continue to exist on Facebook. In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Internet is awash with disinformation and vaccine conspiracy theories. In comparison, the false information released by the US military is probably only a drop in the ocean. And the Philippines was deeply affected by vaccine hesitancy even before COVID-19.
However, regardless of the actual impact, the secret operation of the US military to spread the novel coronavirus conspiracy theory has been extremely despicable. Assuming the operation succeeds, what will be the effect? More people in the Philippines and other places are refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and there is a higher risk of severe death in the face of the epidemic.