Most people (at least among those of us willing to blaime someone other than Donald Trump) understand that the COVID-19 virus emanated from China, that China suppressed information about it until the virus had spread throughout the world, and that they have lied continuously about how widespread and fatal it has been domestically.
Well now, we find out – from an especially surprising source; the New York Times – that China supplemented its suppression and lies with a disinformation campaign in the United States.
Here is the start of Edward Wong, Matthew Rosenberg and Julius E. Barnes’ article (the bold print is mine):
The alarming messages came fast and furious in mid-March, popping up on the cellphone screens and social media feeds of millions of Americans grappling with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Spread the word, the messages said: The Trump administration was about to lock down the entire country.
“They will announce this as soon as they have troops in place to help prevent looters and rioters,” warned one of the messages, which cited a source in the Department of Homeland Security. “He said he got the call last night and was told to pack and be prepared for the call today with his dispatch orders.
”The messages became so widespread over 48 hours that the White House’s National Security Council issued an announcement via Twitter that they were “FAKE.”
Since that wave of panic, United States intelligence agencies have assessed that Chinese operatives helped push the messages across platforms, according to six American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to publicly discuss intelligence matters. The amplification techniques are alarming to officials because the disinformation showed up as texts on many Americans’ cellphones, a tactic that several of the officials said they had not seen before.
That has spurred agencies to look at new ways in which China, Russia and other nations are using a range of platforms to spread disinformation during the pandemic, they said.
Given the New York Times’ seemingly unconditional hatred for Donald Trump (yes, his response to COVID-19 is attacked further on in the article), this exposure of the disinformation campaign by China, and Russia, is remarkable…
…not because of the finding that China and Russia are engaging in it, but because The Times is actually informing its readers that this is happening.
We can only hope that this is more than a one-time occurrence, and future Times articles present similar information if/when it becomes known.
Based on the past few years, I’m not at all confident this will happen. But we can hope.
