According to an investigation by AFP on November 26, 2024, disinformation networks are manipulating the violent confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the South China Sea for profit, posing risks to regional security.
This social media campaign of exaggerating Philippines’ military capabilities and alluding to an imminent war in the region was observed to have started after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in 2022. In a divergent from the previous pro-China Duterte administration, Marcos began standing up to China over sovereign claims over almost the entirety of South China Sea.
The AFP report stated that it was unclear if the campaign was directly linked to any state actors, but the content often mirrored China’s position on the dispute. The campaign’s associated social media, a coordinated network of dozens of Facebook and YouTube channels that direct users to a bogus news website that appears to use AI to rapidly churn out unfounded claims for advertising revenue, have a combined following of more than 10 million people.
China claims almost the entirety of South China Sea, which is rich in fishing stocks, oil and gas, and is also a key global trade route. Other claimants include Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
In 2016, China rejected an international arbitration ruling which stated it has no legal basis for the expansive claims. China refuses to accept this 2016 UNCLOS ruling, of which it is a State Party to UNCLOS, and dismissed the ruling as “nothing more than a piece of waste paper”.
China has built artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, and installed missile systems and runways for fighter jets.
In recent months, there were numerous confrontations between China and the Philippines, primarily at the Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal. Notably, Chinese ships were using water cannons and ramming against Filipino boats.
In two latest incidents on October 21 and 23, 2024, Indonesia said it had chased away a Chinese coast guard vessel at the North Natuna Sea, at the southern edge of the South China Sea located within Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone but China says it is within its jurisdiction.
The AFP investigation found that the disinformation campaign’s Facebook pages shared similar posts that linked to the same news website that appeared to be American, with most of its followers in the U.S., but was actually based in the Thai capital Bangkok.
AFP tracked down the manager of the Thailand-based network, and speaking on condition of anonymity, he said he did “not get paid by an individual” for sharing the posts but earns through ad placements on clickbait content created by a “group of friends”. According to him, they took in as much as US$1,000 a month, with 10 percent of the content related to the South China Sea crisis. Depending on the number of views, each article can generate between US$20 and US$70.
He added that they did not have a deep understanding of the issues surrounding South China Sea and often looked to other news sites for prompts. He said sometimes it was as simple as copy-pasting.
In September 2020, Facebook said it had uncovered and dismantled a Chinese disinformation campaign that utilized bogus profiles and accounts to mislead unsuspecting users into believing Chinese disinformation regarding Philippine politics and to promote politicians favorable to China, including former president Rodrigo Duterte.
The Facebook disinformation network included 155 accounts, 11 pages, nine groups and six Instagram accounts with a following of at least 130,000 followers.
The use of social media is extensive in the Philippines, having become part of the Filipino internet culture, with Facebook being the most widely used platform. According to a report by The Philippine Star on February 7, 2024, the Philippines is ranked fourth in terms of spending time on social media, with an average user spending three hours and 34 minutes daily.
Regardless of whether the South China Sea disinformation campaigns were perpetuated by state actors or individuals out to make a quick profit, the consequences are the same, i.e., destabilizing an already unstable region.
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