By Poppy McPherson and Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) -As Chinese ships fired water cannons at Philippine vessels in the South China Sea in November 2021, Beijing's then-ambassador to Manila asked Filipinos on Facebook to share their favorite things about China. Among the hundreds of gushing responses were three from a young man named "Vince Dimaano." His comments - like many responding to the Chinese embassy's posts - weren't genuine. They came from fake accounts paid for by the diplomatic mission, according to internal documents from a Manila-based marketing agency. The firm, InfinitUs Marketing Solutions, waged a cyber campaign paid for by China to weaken support for Philippine government policy and to sow discord over Manila's security alliance with the United States, according to a review of the documents and the fake Facebook accounts, as well as interviews with two former company employees and two Philippine officials. The Chinese-owned company also used the fake profiles to amplify anti-American content created by Filipino writers, including some who had received money from Beijing, Reuters found. InfinitUs and its owner Paul Li did not respond to questions. The company has previously denied any involvement with "illicit digital activity." A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters that Beijing doesn't interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Allegations of Chinese influence campaigns made by some Filipino politicians "have failed and instead have backfired," the spokesperson said. The explosion of social media has turbocharged influence operations in the Philippines, according to Jonathan Malaya, until recently a senior official with the Philippine National Security Council. Manila is of increasing strategic importance to Washington and Beijing due to its proximity to Taiwan. China's leaders have asked their military to be ready to seize the democratically governed island by 2027. InfinitUs first came under the spotlight at an April Senate hearing, when then-Majority Leader Francis Tolentino accused it of using fake accounts to boost the embassy's profile and conduct an "influence operation" against the Philippines. Tolentino produced a copy of a check from the embassy to InfinitUs and highlighted posts by accounts that Reuters later identified as inauthentic, but he did not elaborate further. The scope of InfinitUs's activities went beyond the pro-China propaganda that Tolentino alleged, Reuters reporting revealed. Its work included disparaging the U.S.-Philippine alliance and Western-made COVID vaccines. The news agency also uncovered that InfinitUs had created Ni Hao Manila, a media outlet designed to look Filipino-run, according to the former employees. InfinitUs employees used accounts masquerading as pro-Beijing Filipinos to attack the U.S. and abuse a prominent nationalist lawmaker, the profiles and company records show. The documents include an August 2023 contract tasking InfinitUs with "guiding public opinion" on Facebook and X, as well as work-progress reports created for the embassy. Reuters identified at least ten Facebook accounts that were part of what InfinitUs called an "army" in the documents. The platform's owner Meta did not comment on the influence campaign but confirmed the accounts violated policy and removed them after being alerted by the news agency. "ARMY ALWAYS SUPPORTS THE ADVOCACIES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CHINESE AMBASSADOR'S PAGE," read one work-progress report, referring to the troll army. "Army propagated the special video explainer about the cons of the Typhon missile of the US being deployed (sic) the Philippines," said another report from November 2024. The accounts also promoted pro-China content featuring Filipino media personalities. They include Rommel Banlaoi, a Chinese-educated counter-terrorism scholar whose 2022 nomination to be deputy national security advisor was successfully opposed by security officials. Banlaoi was among dozens of prominent Filipinos who have received awards from the Association of Philippines-China Understanding (APCU) since 2021. The organization was re-established by ex-Philippine president Gloria Arroyo and a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agency that the U.S. previously accused of "co-opting subnational governments." The embassy-funded awards came with thousands of dollars - multiples of the average Philippine monthly wage - APCU told Reuters. Banlaoi did not respond to questions. Asked about Reuters' findings, Malaya - the Philippine official - said the government was aware "third-party proxies" echoed Chinese talking points that were then circulated by fake accounts "in an attempt to give it virality." "The end goal (of China) is to make the Philippines compliant," Tolentino told Reuters. The Philippines lacks robust foreign interference laws, though lawmakers are working on modernizing and expanding the rules so they also punish spreading disinformation. Potential penalties include heavy fines. The activities of the InfinitUs-controlled accounts fit China's foreign influence playbook, said Bethany Allen of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think-tank, who has studied such information campaigns and reviewed Reuters' findings. X and YouTube host many accounts "which promote 'happy nice China' content (and sometimes more directly political content)," she said in an email, adding that they usually did not disclose affiliation with Beijing despite likely being funded by the CCP. YouTube owner Alphabet and X did not return requests for comment. CHINA, U.S. WAGE INFORMATION WAR Both China and the U.S. have engaged in infowars over the Philippines. Reuters revealed last year the U.S. had operated a program during the pandemic to undermine Chinese vaccines in the Philippines, including through fake social-media accounts. The Chinese embassy said at that time that Washington should "stop slandering and smearing other countries." The U.S. has more recently slashed funding for programs aimed at countering Beijing's propaganda. In April, the State Department shuttered an office that had worked closely with Manila to counter Chinese influence campaigns after Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused it of censorship and wasting funds. Manila had contributed to a database on Chinese operations run by the office, according to a Philippine official familiar with the matter. A State Department spokesperson told Reuters that Manila and Washington continue to cooperate against "malign CCP activities." "Operations that undermine democratic discourse or spread discord are unacceptable" and foreign interference in the Philippines must be challenged, the spokesperson added. The White House said in a statement that its effort to "eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse has not hindered U.S. influence." TROLL ARMY Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has, since taking office in 2022, forged closer security ties between Washington and Manila, a former colony that remains a key node in America's Indo-Pacific defense strategy. The Philippines also maintains extensive cultural and economic links with neighboring China. Marcos Jr, who succeeded the pro-Beijing Rodrigo Duterte, has said that Manila would inevitably be pulled into any conflict over Taiwan. Manila has also taken a more assertive stance in its territorial dispute with Beijing, which claims almost the entire South China Sea. China has frequently disrupted - sometimes violently - operations of Philippine vessels in Manila's exclusive economic zone. Marcos Jr's foreign policy marked a sharp departure from his predecessor. While Duterte cozied up to China, Beijing rapidly militarized reclaimed islands in disputed waters and conducted aggressive maneuvers at sea. As China's image in the Philippines suffered, its Manila mission turned to InfinitUs. Its owner, Li, also operates a business facilitating Chinese migration to the Philippines, corporate records show. In fall 2020, InfinitUs brought online several Facebook accounts, which Reuters identified through an undated company report sent to the embassy. The document included records of comments the profiles had posted on the mission's social pages. The behavior of one of the profiles - "Vince" - was representative of the set. "Vince" often praised China and defended its coast guard, while regularly sharing embassy content. The account lauded China's Sinovac vaccine and circulated negative articles about Western-made shots. "We should stop fighting China" on the maritime issue, "Vince" wrote. InfinitUs did not appear to take great care in making the accounts seem authentic. The photo for one of the profiles was identical to an image for a "handsome Asian man" offered by visuals provider Dreamstime. Dreamstime said it was aware its images were often misused by bot and troll networks and that it opposed such activity. "Vince" also posted virtually identical reviews of businesses as two other accounts Reuters identified as controlled by InfinitUs, which Margot Hardy of online analysis firm Graphika said was a marker of inauthentic behavior. InfinitUs was also behind profiles that attacked a prominent lawmaker, its embassy reports show. The firm's November 2024 report related how those accounts swarmed the profile of then-Congressman Robert Ace Barbers, a vocal proponent of legislation to bolster Filipino maritime claims. The document described an "aggressive comment campaign" on Barbers' Facebook posts that month to "protest his negative comments about China in relation to the new maritime protocols." It did not include examples. But days after the legislation passed, uncorroborated accusations of criminality began to multiply on Barbers' previously published posts. Barbers' posts typically attracted several dozen comments each, but responses surged to the hundreds in late November. "These trolls were programmed to influence the Filipinos to vote for someone," said Barbers, referring to May's midterm elections for which he was term-limited. Meta told Reuters it invests heavily to protect elections online. U.S.-based disinformation analytics firm Cyabra told Reuters that a surge of fake accounts likely linked to Beijing also targeted Marcos Jr on X with allegations of corruption and drug addiction during the campaigning period. Reuters was not able to verify independently the existence of such a campaign but it reviewed many unsubstantiated X posts during that period that accused the president of illegal behavior. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: "We will not, and have no interest in, interfering in Philippine elections." PROXY WARFARE? The trolls buttressed news-and-culture outlet Ni Hao Manila, which means "Hello, Manila" in Mandarin. The outlet has posted videos highlighting Beijing's naval prowess and criticizing Philippine security cooperation with the U.S. Some of its posts were also shared by the InfinitUs fake accounts. One of the former employees said InfinitUs had purchased fake likes and follows from Facebook vendors for Ni Hao Manila, which has about 115,000 followers on YouTube and 300,000 on TikTok. Graphika's Hardy said the outlet's TikTok channel exhibited inorganic behavior like videos with hundreds of likes but no comments. TikTok said it investigated Ni Hao Manila's account after being notified by Reuters and removed fake followers. Ni Hao Manila amplified content from at least one Filipino involved in managing APCU, the Communist Party-affiliated organization. Several serving or former Philippine officials also received awards that APCU says came with cash ranging from between roughly $850 and $3,440. They include Manuel Mamba, a provincial leader who has opposed some plans to host the U.S. military; Regina Tecson, a key aide to Duterte's daughter Sara; and Jaime T. Cruz and Carlos Chan, both former envoys to Beijing. Mamba, who received an award APCU said was worth $2,570, told Reuters he accepted a plaque but was "not aware of any monetary award or quid pro quo in connection with this recognition." He said his engagement with foreign representatives - which had included receiving a donation from Taiwan for typhoon victims - was "consistent with my responsibility to promote cooperation and opportunities beneficial to my constituents." Tecson said there were no conditions attached to her award of about $1,700 and that she used the money for charity work. Other recipients announced by APCU include Banlaoi, the national security nominee, as well as writers Herman Tiu Laurel, Adolfo Paglinawan and Rod Kapunan. All four were also identified as instruments for Chinese influence in a 2024 presentation about foreign interference created for internal use by a Philippine security agency and seen by Reuters. Tiu Laurel did not respond to specific questions but said the award recognized "individuals who stand for the truth in Philippine-China relations." APCU, as well as Cruz, Chan, Paglinawan and Kapunan did not return requests for comment. Surveys indicate Filipino support for the U.S. alliance remains strong but former senator Tolentino said Beijing's efforts were showing some signs of success. Polls show the frontrunner for the 2028 presidential elections is Sara Duterte, who has criticized the term-limited Marcos Jr's pro-American policies. "Filipinos believe in social media," Tolentino said. "They can be swayed." (Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bangkok and Karen Lema in Manila; Additional reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal in Bangkok, Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Katerina Ang)
