China Defends uses of Twitter and Facebook in COVID-19 campaign
The Chinese government defended its use of Twitter and Facebook on Thursday, following a report that it had used its growing social media presence to spread disinformation about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked about the report, top Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying did not directly address the allegations about China’s role in spreading the virus’ disinformation. However, he called the report overblown, saying that China should also have the right to use social media.
An Associated Press investigation, conducted in collaboration with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Laboratory, found that powerful political figures and media allies in China, as well as the United States, Russia, and Iran, flooded the world with disinformation about the virus.
The report, released earlier this week, said Chinese officials went on the offensive in reaction to a narrative, fueled by former US President Donald Trump and others, that the virus had been manufactured by China. Experts have largely ruled out that possibility.
Hua asked about the AP report in a daily Foreign Ministry briefing, said that some people in Western countries, such as the United States, do not want to hear the objective and true voice of China.
“They fear that more people will know the truth so that they can no longer spread unscrupulous false information and do whatever they want to mislead and monopolize international public opinion,” he said.
China’s response, however, was to start spreading rumors that the virus had been created by an American military laboratory and released during an international competition for military athletes in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the new coronavirus was first detected a. the end of 2019.
The search for the origins of the virus has become highly politicized. Trump tried to blame China, in part to deflect criticism of his administration’s response to the pandemic in the United States.
China, in turn, has taken advantage of reports that the virus was circulating outside the country before the outbreak in Wuhan, suggesting it may have been brought in from elsewhere.
Determining where the virus originated from will likely take years of research and may never be known. Most scientists say the most likely scenario is that it was first carried by bats in southwest China or neighboring Southeast Asia, and then spread to another animal before infecting humans.
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