Chinese Government Intensifies COVID Disinformation Efforts
Over the past weeks, DisinfoWatch has observed an intensification of Chinese COVID-19 related propaganda and disinformation efforts, which coincided with the arrival of a WHO investigative team in Wuhan to study the origins of the virus.
Current Chinese government propaganda and disinformation focus on two primary narratives: claims about the effectiveness and dangers of Western vaccines and the failure to distribute them. This is followed closely by ongoing denials of responsibility for the global pandemic and promotion of manipulated historical narratives about the effectiveness of Chinese government countermeasures, many of which were never taken or facilitated the broader global spread of COVID-19.
Claims about the safety of Western vaccines are clearly intended to erode public trust and confidence in western vaccines and governments that are distributing them.
A recent Washington Post report suggests that Chinese state vaccine disinformation could be a reaction to its failure to meet domestic expectations: “After Chinese officials and researchers spent months telling the public that China’s vaccines would win the global development race,” there is “now a gap between expectation and reality that needed to be addressed, so you see this effort to disparage Western vaccines.”
It was reported in January that the leading Chinese vaccine candidate produced by Sinovac was only 50 percent effective in large clinical trials held in Brazil (though much smaller trials in Indonesia and Turkey do show higher efficacy). In contrast, Oxford-AstraZenica’s vaccine is reported to be 90 percent effective while Pfizer and Moderna’s is 95 percent effective. The efficacy of Russia’s “Sputnik V” vaccine has been broadly questioned by western scientists given the Russian government’s historical lack of transparency.
In an editorial published by Chinese State media outlet, Global Times, editor, Hu Xijin claimed the Western “press is out to destroy the reputation of the Chinese vaccine, hoping that the world will wait for Pfizer and other American and Western companies to produce surplus vaccines and finally get vaccinated.”
In addition to vaccine-related disinformation, the Chinese government has undertaken a widespread campaign to promote conspiracy theories that claim that COVID-19 was developed at a US Army research facility in Fort Detrick, Maryland. These are part of efforts to manipulate the origins theory of COVID-19 and to deflect blame away from the Chinese state. The narratives were spread starting on January 18, 2021. Fort Detrick was the focus of an infamous Soviet Cold War propaganda campaign in which Soviet authorities claimed that HIV/AIDS was developed at the same facility.
Kremlin Echoes China’s Vaccine Disinformation
A recent report published by the EU’s Eastern Stratcomm EUvsDisinfo warns that Russian state media is “is carefully reporting on virtually every case of recorded side-effects of the Pfizer vaccine, while just as carefully avoiding any reports on issues with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.” The report states that Russia is promoting narratives about a “War of Vaccines” with the West, further indicating its perspective and focus in combating the Coronavirus.
The Kremlin’s Aggressive Reaction to the Return of Alexey Navalny
Russian anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny was arrested on January 17, 2021 in Moscow, following his recuperation in Berlin after being poisoned with a highly controlled Russian government-produced nerve agent, Novichok, in August 2020. Navalny’s arrest was accompanied by an intense Russian government information offensive against his supporters, accusing Navalny of being an agent of Western states.
RT published a story in which Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, blamed Western leaders for using the Navalny story “as [a] tool to distract from their own crises at home.” Russian Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned Western governments “decrying Navalny’s detention ‘not to interfere’ with Russian law.” Canadian Foreign Minister, Marc Garneau, joined Canada’s allies in condemning Navalny’s arrest and called for his immediate release.
Analysis of Russian pro-Putin social media groups indicate that Navalny’s arrest and recent investigation exposing Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea palace were broadly discussed in Russian-language social media groups. The majority of posts we examined in Russian-Canadian pro-Kremlin Facebook groups supported Navalny’s arrest. However, analysis of many accounts posting about Navalny suggest inauthentic behaviour (bots) and pro-Kremlin trolls.
One Russian-Canadian account from St. Catherines, Ontario, posted a comment (since deleted by Facebook for promoting violence) on a story about Navalny’s arrest stated that she “would have shot him. Putin has great patience.” Another commentator posted on the same story that “Navalny should be in prison” which was liked by 21 users.
A story posted to the Russia-Canada Facebook group about the Navalny investigation attracted 204 comments, mostly from pro-Putin nationalists. Commentators supporting Navalny were “shouted down” and dismissed as being “morons,” “crazy” or “sick.” One commentator echoed Russian state narratives, claiming that the Navalny investigation was part of “the chain of general propaganda of the west against Russia.”
According to several reports, social media accounts that support Alexey Navalny and other Russian human rights groups and activists were actively removed by social media companies. The Kremlin agency responsible for policing speech on social media, Roskomnadzor, told Reuters that “YouTube had deleted 50% of the posts that the regulator said had urged minors to protest, and that Instagram had taken down 17% of those posts.” The Russian regulator threatened imposing large fines on “social media platforms for what it said was illegal content urging minors to take part in illegal protests.”
The Chinese government has also endorsed the Kremlin’s crackdown on Twitter.
Russian Propaganda Outlet Staff in Latvia Charged with Violating EU Sanctions
In early December, several journalists who work with Russian state media organization, Rossiya Segodnya, were charged by Latvian authorities with violating European Union sanctions that have been placed on the head of the Russian state media organization, Dmitry Kiselyov.
Tweets posted by various Russian government foreign ministry accounts have de-contextualized the Latvian government’s action to misrepresent it as targeting Russian-language media more broadly, which is untrue. Sputnik is a well-known and recognized Russian government information warfare organization that is responsible for the production and publication of information intended to advance a positive image of the Russian government and used to attack its adversaries and critics.
A report published on Sputnik attacked the Latvian case “Moscow slammed Riga’s actions as a violation of the freedom of the press.” Meanwhile, the government of Vladimir Putin has attacked Russian free media since 2000, and at least 42 journalists have been killed, most under suspicious circumstances.
Anti-Israeli COVID Misinformation
Since March, conspiracy theorists and extremists have published narratives that suggest that Jews, like financier George Soros, are responsible for the spread of COVID-19 or are behind a conspiracy to control society, many of which have appeared on social media.
In January, some western media outlets posted stories with misleading headlines about Israel’s COVID vaccine roll-out, suggesting that the government’s policy is discriminatory towards the Palestinian Authority. However, The Guardian reports that “the [Palestinian] Authority has not officially asked for help from Israel. Coordination between the two sides halted last year after the Palestinian president cut off security ties for several months.”
Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in December that “The Palestinians have not approached Israel for help in obtaining COVID-19 vaccines and are planning to purchase them on their own.” The report states that the Palestinian authority will be obtaining doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. However, a spokesman for the Israeli armed forces has stated that “Israel is willing to assist the Palestinians, but first it needs to create dialogue with them …. until now, unfortunately, this dialogue has not happened. We are still waiting for the Palestinian Authority to engage us on this matter.”
