Chinese Agents Helped Spread Messages That Sowed Virus Panic In US: Officials (nytimes.com) 229
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: 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. [...] Two American officials stressed they did not believe Chinese operatives created the lockdown messages, but rather amplified existing ones. Those efforts enabled the messages to catch the attention of enough people that they then spread on their own, with little need for further work by foreign agents. The messages appeared to gain significant traction on Facebook as they were also proliferating through texts, according to an analysis by The New York Times. "American officials said the operatives had adopted some of the techniques mastered by Russia-backed trolls, such as creating fake social media accounts to push messages to sympathetic Americans, who in turn unwittingly help spread them," the report adds.
"American intelligence officers are also examining whether spies in China's diplomatic missions in the United States helped spread the fake lockdown messages, a senior American official said. [...] And the apparent aim of spreading the fake lockdown messages last month is consistent with a type of disinformation favored by Russian actors -- namely sowing chaos and undermining confidence among Americans in the U.S. government."
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. [...] Two American officials stressed they did not believe Chinese operatives created the lockdown messages, but rather amplified existing ones. Those efforts enabled the messages to catch the attention of enough people that they then spread on their own, with little need for further work by foreign agents. The messages appeared to gain significant traction on Facebook as they were also proliferating through texts, according to an analysis by The New York Times. "American officials said the operatives had adopted some of the techniques mastered by Russia-backed trolls, such as creating fake social media accounts to push messages to sympathetic Americans, who in turn unwittingly help spread them," the report adds.
"American intelligence officers are also examining whether spies in China's diplomatic missions in the United States helped spread the fake lockdown messages, a senior American official said. [...] And the apparent aim of spreading the fake lockdown messages last month is consistent with a type of disinformation favored by Russian actors -- namely sowing chaos and undermining confidence among Americans in the U.S. government."
My favorate DS9 qoute. (Score:5, Insightful)
Dr. Julian Bashir:
It's a children's story, about a young shepherd boy who gets lonely while tending his flock. So he cries out to the villagers that a wolf is attacking the sheep. The people come running, but of course there's no wolf. He claims that it's run away and the villagers praise him for his vigilance.
Elim Garak:
Clever lad. Charming story.
Dr. Julian Bashir:
I'm not finished. The next day, the boy does it again, and the next too. And on the fourth day a wolf really comes. The boy cries out at the top of his lungs, but the villagers ignore him, and the boy, and his flock, are gobbled up.
Elim Garak:
Well, that's a little graphic for children, wouldn't you say?
Dr. Julian Bashir:
But the point is, if you lie all the time, nobody's going to believe you, even when you're telling the truth.
Elim Garak:
Are you sure that's the point, Doctor?
Dr. Julian Bashir:
Of course. What else could it be?
Elim Garak:
That you should never tell the same lie twice.
Re:My favorate DS9 qoute. (Score:4, Insightful)
Love this one too. Garak is really, really well written.
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I'd watch a show with only Bashir, Garak, Quark and Odo.
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No Sisko [youtube.com]?
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Interesting episode about Starfleet morality, but no I wouldn't watch a Sisko-oriented series again because that's what DS9 was all about (Sisko/The Emissary).
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No Q?
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Completely different topic. I'd watch a show where Q is the main character and we follow him everywhere/everywhen he goes and "annoys/tests" different species. I would have loved to see Q vs Garak in a battle of wits.
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"I would have loved to see Q vs Garak in a battle of wits."
How about Q and Spock? It was awesome. Not so much the 2nd time around, though...
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Stop say "Elim Garak". He's just "plain, simple Garak".
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Actually makes some sense in the star trek concept. If people keep saying 'the sun' and 'the moon' to talk about the nearest star and moon, you need some way to specifically refer to the original ones back near Earth.
Re: My favorate DS9 qoute. (Score:2)
Fuck that noise ... (Score:2)
... it was QAnon.
Re:Fuck that noise ... (Score:5, Insightful)
The Wedge - Doesn't Matter What 'side' You Are On.
Bad foreign actors and elitist supremacist groups are and have been running social media propaganda campaigns for many years now. People might (not?) be surprised to know that the Nazis as well as Russian, Iranian, and Chinese state actors that are running these cyberwar campaigns are not solely cheering on for Blue or Red. They are for neither team. Or rather they are playing for both teams at the same time - and this is intentional. They understood that many people today are in self-validating echo chambers of digital information and they use that to our disadvantage. By mass distributing these inflammatory digital misinformation streams, with an army of millions of fake personas and accounts (as well as plenty of real accounts of true Americans repeating these points), disguised as hyper-partisans on both side of the isle, they have succeeded in convincing 50% of America that the other 50% is evil and out to get them. Doesn't matter which 'side' you are on.
“He who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Be careful what you allow yourself to believe and more importantly be careful of the reasons why you believe it. Doesn't matter what 'side' you are on.
It’s one thing not to trust the government - I generally don't — but it’s another thing to say the shadowy global government is a bunch of satanic child molesters hellbent on tracking everyone on the planet with digital ink tattoos and so far they have covered up every piece of evidence of such plots. "The numbers don't add up" indeed... Doesn't matter what 'side' you are on.
The stand against government tyranny is commendable. Myself, however, I also stand against what I feel is the spiritual tyranny in the name of religious liberty. I cannot think of a worse form of tyranny than a worldview that forces you to have to hate other people. I can throw the word sheeple around just like everyone else. God loves all. Tyranny is tyranny. Doesn't matter what 'side' you are on.
It doesn't matter which side you are on. If you feel the need to tell other people how they MUST behave (AND actually want your government to ENFORCE it) then you are, knowingly or otherwise, part of the wedge being driven down the center of our country and the freedom it stands for. Hell, even me writing this essay adds to that wedge effect, unfortunately.
If you want to discuss a specific issue or controversy, we can do that. We might very well disagree and it could even get heated but the gist is above - I will not allow myself to fall prey to the propaganda that qanon and other bad actors are selling. I love my country. I love my friends and family. I think most people on this planet are good decent human beings. Across the globe. Red, blue, or otherwise. Doesn't matter what 'side' you are on.
My hope is that you hear my thoughts and maybe agree with at least a point or two. The common ground is where we start to retake our liberties and our country. We must unite the country or it will be lost to extremists on the other side. Doesn't matter what 'side' you are on.
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Yes yes nation states have been engaging in psyops on one another since the beginning of time. Its only rational to think that they would be doing it online too. But who are the Nazis? They haven't been a government since 1945. Are you implying that they somehow survived on the dark side of the moon? Or are you referring to other nationalist groups that aren't nazis but share beliefs with them? If so which ones? The Aryan Brotherhood has never shown much in the way of a social media preference or any knack
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But to your point, I really should update the essay to change that word because it is not what I intended to say. As it came to mind I was thinking of racial and national supremacists in all forms (that actually act on their beliefs on full display) and that specific word was meant to refer to a more non-state source rather than being external in nature - one
Random cell phone messages (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Random cell phone messages (Score:4, Insightful)
Some of us older folks still feel like all of this technology that has been developed over the years would bring with it, the same sense of valid information that TVs brought in the good ole days. But alas, the more technology is developed, the more it's used against the masses. Us older folks are still wrestling with the fact that "technology" doesn't mean what it used to mean. Please excuse us.
Calling us "shockingly, excruciatingly stupid" is the typical knee-jerk reaction that you younger folks seem to prefer. We used to call those that had that mentality "the fools that rush in".
Re:Random cell phone messages (Score:4)
Re:Random cell phone messages (Score:5, Interesting)
One of my wife's friends excitedly told her that she was going to be working with a Nigerian prince that was going to pay her to help get his money out of Africa. This was around 2012, when the 419 scams were at least 20 years old already. Fortunately Rosa talked her out of it before she sent her banking info, but this same dingbat forwarded the 'national lockdown' message this year.
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I had this never ending problem myself - no, mom, the bank is not asking you to click a link and type in your password for security reasons - that's a scam.
We're butting right up against the limits of human capacity to learn. The rate of increase in technology has outpaced most people. That's to be expected, and there's also going to be the lull as we generally evolve to accomodate it.
It took us how many millions of years after crawling out of the ocean to harness fire and the wheel?
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the dipshits standing around state capitols demanding the country reopens
I was wondering, if the people who want the country to reopen to keep the economy from collapsing are to be held responsible for the COVID deaths that result, are the people who want the lockdown to continue going to be held responsible for the suicides that usually result from a recession or depression?
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according to six American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity
As we should of course always believe anonymous sources too. I can't help but think that many members of the press corpse are in your bottom 10%.
We have an aging population (Score:2)
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Why bother? (Score:3, Insightful)
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Seriously. The constant Trump bashing is getting irritating.
Well maybe elect someone competent next time.
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Unfortunately that wasn't an option in 2016, and doesn't look like it will be this time either. Since I turned 18 I've had the opportunity to vote **FOR** exactly one presidential candidate (Carter), rather than being forced to vote **AGAINST** someone even worse.
Re: Why bother? (Score:5, Informative)
I wondrer if the Nazis talked about "Hiter bashing" too.
No, just like the CCP members don't talk about "Xi bashing". Because in those fascist regimes, anyone who spoke ill of the party or the leader were summarily disappeared. A bit different than what happens in the US...
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You seem to ignore the fact that dictatorship don't just happen one morning, there is a more or less slow transition
That doesn't seem to match history.
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I wondrer if the Nazis talked about "Hiter bashing" too.
No more than the Chinese complain about Xi bashing. Before the newspaper gets to press or new show goes on air, anyone planning any bashing Hitler or Franco or Pinochet or Xi or Putin is/was sent on their way to reeducation.
However much one feels Trump should / should not be bashed, he does indeed get bashed nonstop. Which is a beautiful thing that it is allowed to happen.
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Only part of the time. I never hear them complain when the president is being aggressive towards other countries. Heck , all it takes for everyone calling him presidential is to bomb someone.
Re:Why bother? (Score:5, Informative)
All we have to do is open up the cnn front page for that, as well as constant hit pieces on our president.
What makes you think this is just CNN? When someone is that incompetent at their job those stories get picked up by any news site that doesn't have a strong blind and unquestionably faithful bias to the moron in question.
And to be clear, most of the world thinks he is a moron, and I think global opinion of the USA in general has sunk simply because he was elected in the first place.
Re:Why bother? (Score:5, Insightful)
All we have to do is open up the cnn front page for that, as well as constant hit pieces on our president.
Yeah, the hit pieces are lame.
They should just post Trump's actual statements. His rambling, incoherent, self-contradictory diatribes damage him more effectively than any op-eds could.
The only way they could get Americans to listen (Score:3, Insightful)
The Chinese government clearly couldn't get through to the thick headed orange man that the American public needed to take COVID-19 seriously. So they went straight to the people of the US, using sort of slimey methods.
China's motivation? Not wanting their largest trade partner to be paralyzed by the pandemic. Xi's power ultimately lies in keeping Chinese workers working. Unless China is exporting piles of useless widgets to the US, they're not working.
All of that said, I've seen plenty of Americans hyperventilating themselves into a panic all on their own, without the help of the Chinese government.
Though really, this is all just a distraction from the poor performance of the federal government and Trump in particular on dealing with the problems.
Has Donald Trump ever actually accepted fault or blame for anything?
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"Has Donald Trump ever actually accepted fault or blame for anything?"
Has he ever done anything wrong? Many of his fans accepted his bragging about sexual assaults as "locker room talk". If that conduct is acceptable, what isn't?
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Because anonymous sources who provide no documentation are always telling the truth . . .
These seeds fell on fertile ground (Score:5, Insightful)
The only thing an American won't believe easily is the truth.
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I'm reminded of what a Soviet general told Farley Mowat in the early '80s, "The difference between Soviet propaganda and American propaganda is that we don't believe ours."
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I know, right? We should be burning down 5G towers like our betters in the UK.
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And today's left-leaning people who imagine they'll somehow "lead" in a social restructuring or revolution would do well to remember that the first "fringe group" that Stalin killed off was the left intellectuals who helped to get him into power. They were, naturally, the greatest threat to his ongoing power.
"Thank you very much, useful idiots, your services are no longer required."
When your worldview is Darwin, expect Darwin.
"left" social restructuring will never happen, since what you call left has been already assimilated into capitalism decades ago. e.g. the socialist party in my country is more nationalist and neoliberal that the conservatives dared to be 30 years ago.
so it's really funny to read these exaggerated omens from conservatives. it must be either just copy&paste propaganda or a sign of real deep insecurity. relax, there is no left left, you already won!
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If you want to make a conservative laugh, tell him parts of Nixon's platform were to the left of Obama's. If you want to make his conservative's head explode, simply open a history book and prove it.
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funny, really (Score:3, Insightful)
You had all these Dems primed to believe that. They have been believing in feverish madness all along that Trump was a dictator, just ready to impose martial law, since he came down the stupid escalator.
Funny, really. Something very close to (soft) martial law has been imposed ... but not by Trump ...
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But this wasn't something that was circulating among Democrats. Democrats were complaining that Trump wasn't taking this seriously enough, and that the things he did do were more calculated for PR effect than public health.
He wasn't, and there is proof (Score:2)
I feel like the sighted man in the land of the blind trying to explain sight to people. Trump was given a literal playbook to follow with clear guides on what to do and when. He ignored it, either through malice or incompetence. These are just facts.
Meanwhile Trump is encouraging anti-lock down protests while telling people it's too early to open. You can google this. It's completely fact.
How can any sane individual look at that and continue to support Donald Trump? That is utter madnes
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It's funny how people prefer to argue about alternate histories than what actually happened.
Re: funny, really (Score:2)
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From my experience the only people i saw in a panic were the doomsday preppers... everyone else took it in stride.
Have you been living under a rock for the past two months? There were tens-of-millions of people panic buying! There is absolutely no way all those people are doomsday preppers. Most likely very few of them were doomsday preppers, because the preppers had already stockpiled BEFORE the SHTF so they weren't out there putting an even bigger strain on the system. But since the truth clearly doesn't fit your tidy little world view you go ahead and keep believing your lies.
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They also resisted — tooth and nail — his attempts to tighten the border-crossings, but are now willing to close cities and even streets [sfgate.com]!
Re: funny, really (Score:2)
One is actually helping to stop the spread of a dangerous disease.
But the border, hells bells, Trump waived visa interviews for seasonal migrant workers, he's practically driving them over here himself. Obviously we need them. You go tell boss man he's wrong.
That's because they were pointless (Score:2)
Meanwhile Trump has fired the head of the CDC vaccine unit because that Doctor wouldn't support Trump's desire to use hydrochlorothiazide to treat COVID-19 when there was no reliable evidence that it worked and lots of evidence that it was harmful. Trump has close ties to the maker of hydrochlorothiazide. Also Trump is moving to reopen gyms
Re: funny, really (Score:2)
The dems, really? Here's one of the propaganda messages. Two things.
Who is protesting the Trump supported state lockdowns in our state capitals? Was panic buying a partisan issue? It's obvious who this was aimed at.
"Please be advised, within 48 to 72 Hours the president will evoke what is called the Stafford act. Just got off the phone with some of my military friends down in DC who had a two hour briefing. The president will order a two week mandatory quarantine for the nation. Stock up on whatever you
Dem here, and a lefty (Score:2)
That said, I have a very specific reason to fear Trump leading to a dictatorship. For the last 20 years the GOP has been running up voter suppression laws up to the Supreme Court. Voter Id, legalized poll watchers (sometimes armed), withholding voting rights from ex-cons, gerrrymandering, closing polling places, attacks on the Voting Rights Act, etc, etc.
Right now John Roberts limits the reach of these laws. Eventually the
Re: funny, really (Score:2)
https://www.fox4news.com/news/... [fox4news.com]
Those aren't liberal demonstrators protesting at the capital of a red state with a republican governor, doing exactly what our republican president is telling him to do.
https://thehill.com/homenews/h... [thehill.com]
Trump has tried multiple times (Score:2)
Iran's military is about 4 times the size of Iraqs and has modern weapons. It will be a nastry, terrifying war that will at best break our country. But it's also possible it'll expand into WWIII. Iran has allies. And it's possible we'll overreach into other countries. Or that Russia will do something dumb. Or China.
Also, there were folks on Fox News (I can't find the clip right now, it was on the "Now this News" channel IIRC)
declare a war of attrition on china (Score:2)
Re:declare a war of attrition on china (Score:5, Funny)
have the USN sink every chinese cargo ship in the seven seas
Why would you sink all the stuff you bought and paid someone else to build for you?
That's not happening (Score:2)
Trump is a Chinese agent? ;) (Score:2)
I mean looking at the situation ... then at Trump's behavior ... if that didn't give you a cold fucking sweat as an American, then I don't know.
But wasn't he Russian? Woudln't that make him an immigrant? ;)
Hey.. I mean it fits, after Obama was a Taliban immigrant, Regan was an actor, and Lincoln became a car. :P
By the way: Is fear of the virus unfounded?
And is this news part of the "reopen" campaign?
And yeah, before you get knee-jerk triggrered yet again: 1. I left special hints for the very ... special peo
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Wait. You're saying Abraham Lincoln was an AUTOBOT!?
What the hell, they did dinosaur robots, why not civil war era robots. I mean "USS Ironsides" as a giant robot makes total sense!
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USS Ironsides was a wooden ship in the War of 1812 and was called that because of the brutal pounding it took. The Civil War had the ironclads Monitor and the Merrimack.
Sorry, history buff.
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It would be easier to recognize what you wrote as "jokes" if what you wrote was funnier. Besides the part about Lincoln becoming a car, the rest was pretty lame. Don't give up your day job...
epic fail (Score:3)
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I can summarize it for you if you want. Bipartisan: Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Syria are bad supervillains who spend all their time scheming against the US for no reason at all. They are the cause of all our problems.
Partisan: and you're not doing enough to stand up against them!
China, sigh... (Score:2)
Don't they know we are their customers? It's bad for business if you hate\piss off your customers
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It's bad for business if you hate\piss off your customers
Microsoft?
Russiagate all over again (Score:4, Interesting)
"according to six American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to publicly discuss intelligence matters."
Oh please, not this again. Using only "American officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity", you can of course continue making all kinds of stupid statements. Bernie Sanders is helped by Russians. Tulsi Gabbard is outright is Putin agent. What's next? Ted Cruz's father killed JFK, according to a retied but still anonymous member of the intelligence so called "community". Give me a break already. Fuck the spies. Just fuck them. They have their own agenda and they are not our friends.
Well, since we're talking about Russiagate (Score:2)
And if you read the Mueller report you'll find that Trump's campaign literally tried to collude, but couldn't figure out how. Like the old Dilbert Joke says, he'd have to be smarter to do something dumb...
Seriously, don't re-elect this guy. You will regret it. I know it sounds fun to burn everything down. Trust me, as soon as you're on fire it stops being fun.
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Bernie Sanders was being helped by Russians. He admitted it. He was briefed by one of the intelligence branches about this fact early in his campaign, which only leaked to the press in February. Once it leaked, he then blamed the press for leaking the information, but admitted that it was true: some of his supporters were, in fact, Russian assets that were supporting him in an attempt to disrupt the election.
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We're better at it though, we have the resources of Madison Avenue ad agencies who have the best mind-control experts in the world on their payrolls.
clearly it's over blown (Score:2)
Pre internet days, only "first world" countries had the money to send agents to other countries and try to influence local politics. with the internet, any country can use soci
Because NYT always said truth (Score:3)
They never hyped up the "WMD crisis" before the Iraq war and they never promoted the absurd and now completely discredited Russiagate so called scandal.
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Well if the NYTimes says 'officials say this' then I trust the NYTimes is telling the truth.
I mainly blame the NYTimes for not pointing out when the officials are just making up stuff to suit their own interest. Which appears to be most of the time. Instead the NYTimes gives credibility to the officials and even goes as far as treating their claims as truthful.
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I'd recommend you look up the CIA Project Mockingbird, which was based at the Washington Post but which had more operatives in the New York Times than anywhere else. Mockingbird isn't dead, it's just been made "kinder and gentler". Today "journalists" get paid five and six figure fees for "speaking engagements" in front of a dozen people rather than CIA deposits directly to their bank accounts.
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I know of it. And there is a famous article of Carl Bernstein summing up how the CIA secretly contolled the press in the seventies. But things have changed since and there is no need for secrecy, bribing or blackmail anymore. Now it's voluntary collaboration. For Matt Taibbi recently compiled a list of about 30 CIA agents who have openly collaborated with CNN.
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Of Woodward and Bernstein? Woodward was a member of one of the Yale secret societies (Book and Key, I think), before joining the world's oldest intelligence agency, US Naval Intelligence. After leaving Naval Intel he somehow joined the WaPo, a job that Pulitzer Prize winning journalists would have sold their children to have, with essentially no experience. They then cooperated with a highly placed FBI agent to carry out what's been called "the first domestic coup in US history." I don't trust either of
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I'm pointing out how bad it is when the media are doing their job, while you're saying 'yeah but the media cheat'. Sure, that also happens.
Russians, too (Score:2)
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pffft, and no one with a brain believed that nonsense, this is yet another case of overblown overhyped troll trash.
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Unfortunately "no one with a brain" seems to be a minority here now.
So that's why? (Score:2)
Say what you want about Trump (Score:2)
but I'd hardly call him a Chinese agent.
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Invasion (Score:2)
Foment chaos and panic in your enemies (Score:2)
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It couldn't have been that widespread (Score:3, Insightful)
I never saw a single one of these messages. Nothing even remotely close.
The only things I heard coming close are from the same people who want states to stop the lockdowns. Right up until the con artist realized Republican led states opening up would mean his supporters dying off. Like what was about to happen in Georgia which is why he furiously flip flopped on governor Kemp.
Blackhole the country (Score:2)
China has the Great Firewall. Turn it around and route all traffic out of China to /dev/null.
Disease (Score:2)
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Please... Everyone knows the Chinese are yellow, not orange. /heavy_racist_sarcasm
Re:The president is Chinese agent (Score:5, Funny)
Wait a minute. If you combine red and yellow you get orange!
Holy shit, Johnson. This changes everything!
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That's just what the Deep State wants you to think.. ;-)
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What's your problem? Obviously he is moonlighting from his job as a Russian agent.
That doesn't pay enough for his extravagant lifestyle.
Re:Too easy (Score:5, Insightful)
Our shitty educational system is another. People are taught to regurgitate factoids to pass tests, not taught how to analyze a situation and make a decision on their own. They trust authority figures (even fictional ones) implicitly because they have never learned how to come to their own rational conclusions. You tend not to see stupidity like this being blindly accepted in Finland.