SENATE majority leader Francis Tolentino yesterday said China has tapped a local company to act as a troll farm with the aim of maligning Philippine officials as part of its “covert disinformation and influence operation” against the Philippine government.
Tolentino, at the third hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Maritime Zones and Admiralty Zones, presented documents linking the Chinese Embassy to the alleged troll farm operations.
The committee is conducting an inquiry into China’s alleged spying activities in the country through the use of submersible drones, among others.
The Chinese Embassy has not replied to requests for comment on Tolentino’s disclosure, as of press time. No representative from the Chinese Embassy or the local firm was present in the hearing.
The National Bureau of Investigation has committed to investigate China’s alleged tapping of the troll farm which was also aimed at influencing the outcome of the elections, according to National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya, who said Tolentino’s revelations are “consistent with how the People’s Republic of China operates.”
Chairman George Garcia of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said they have received information about efforts by a “big country” to interfere in the May 12 national and local polls. He said they see the interference coming from auto bots and troll farms on social media. The aim is to “influence the election and even dictate and to condition the mind of the people on which election results should be accepted and which shouldn’t.”
Garcia asked the public not to believe everything on social media.
INFINITUS
Tolentino said the documents in his possession show that Infinitus Marketing Solutions Inc., a Filipino registered firm based in Makati City, was hired by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), through the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, sometime in August 2023. The embassy was then represented by Wu Qinggi, director of the embassy’s media and public relations.
He said the objective was for Infinitus to act as a “troll farm” on PRC’s behalf. Each warrior is to be paid a monthly salary of P24,000, with an increase of P10,000 depending if they can deliver “exceptional results.”
“Infinitus’ job is to provide keyboard warriors … Most likely, the keyboard warriors are Filipinos… China is paying it to attack numerous personalities,” Tolentino said in Filipino.
Aside from the contract between Infinitus and the Chinese embassy, Tolentino also presented a check supposedly coming from the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, showing a P930,000 payment to Infinitus in September 2023.
“The People’s Republic of China paid for this not only to discredit a person or a leader, but the whole country, as well,” he added.
He said Infinitus claims it has “hundreds” of social media accounts which Tolentino said are fake. The accounts, he said, pretend “to be one of us” like school teachers, overseas Filipino workers, and members of the armed forces. He added the company has over 53,000 “friends” on its social media accounts like Facebook and X (formerly Tweeter).
He said the troll farm is operated by 11 people, including its team leader, which operates nationwide by speaking a local dialect in a bid to create an atmosphere that issues against the government have been reaching even the remotest areas of the country.
Tolentino said the trolls will comment on certain issues against the government, which will then be commented on by real social media users and subsequently create divisiveness due to their opposing opinions on an issue.
WPS ISSUE
He said among the issues these trolls comment on is the issue on the West Philippine Sea (WPS), of which China’s narratives on the matter are being amplified by the trolls.
He said this was true after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law the Philippine Maritime and Admiralty Zones Act, and the Philippine Sea Lanes Act in November last year. Both measures were authored by Tolentino and define the Philippines’ territorial waters.
He said some of the troll comments are “China has all the right to oppose this (law on maritime zones) because it runs counter to the territorial stand. This new maritime law and protocols will just worsen our conflict with China.”
“Most issues coming out on social media sites, which we think are viral, which we think are being talked about, are not true since they are all based on these kinds of manipulation,” he said.
He said Infinitus was made to come up with a monthly report on the progress it has made on spreading disinformation.
“This is not normal PR campaign … This is to convey the policies of the Chinese government. The money that the Chinese embassy paid was for something hidden and sinister. It was to finance a troll farm, a covert disinformation and influence operation against the Philippine government and the Filipino people,” he said.
PERSONALITIES
He said among the personalities frequently being bashed by the trolls are Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, who is the overall chairman of the House quad committee, and Marcos, as shown in posts on November 26, 2024.
He said some of the posts read: “’Si Bongbong Marcos pinagpapatuloy ang ginagawang pandarambong ng kanyang ama. As the saying goes, the fruit does not fall far from the tree. Like father, like son.’ So, ang inaatake naman dito ay ang Presidente ng Pilipinas (‘Bongbong Marcos continues to plunder the government coffers just like his father. As the saying goes, the fruit does not fall far from the tree. Like father, like son.’ So, in this instance, it is the president of the Philippines who is being attacked).”
Tolentino said it is also evident in the posts that these trolls are always supportive of China and its embassy in the Philippines as ordered by their benefactor and create a dislike on Philippines’ allies extending assistance to the country, among others.
He said one reason he sees China is doing this is because the Philippines does not want Beijing to take the WPS.
He said China can always deny the allegations, but the evidence he has on hand show a lot.
Tolentino laments the way China has been treating the Philippines which it always boasts to be its friend.
“Friends treat friends. It is a mockery of the Chinese Embassy’s talk of friendship. We should not turn a blind eye to and disregard what we have discovered,” he added.
Malaya, at the hearing, said “the information space is really the battleground now.”
He said what Tolentino showed was an example of how China uses media and information warfare “to advance its interests in the cognitive realm.”
“Ang labanan kasi ngayon, Mr. Chairman, is public opinion. It really resonated with us in the security sector, those who have studied how the People’s Republic of China operates. It’s what we call in the security sector as influence operations. It is part and parcel of what they call as united front work and also using the Chinese diaspora in the Philippines’ local politics and local leading figures to advance their cognitive objectives,” he added.
ELECTIONS
Malaya said there are also indications that China is playing a vital role in influencing the outcome of the midterm elections by supporting pro-China candidates and opposing those who are against Beijing.
“There are indications … that information operations are being conducted that are Chinese state-sponsored in the Philippines that are actually interfering in the forthcoming elections … What we observed is that there are many narratives coming out, for example from Beijing, that are being amplified by third-party individuals, their proxies … based in the Philippines,” Malaya said in a mix of Filipino and English.
An example of China’s narrative being echoed by “proxies” is Beijing’s strong opposition to the ongoing “Balikatan” exercises between Filipino and American troops, saying that “the Balikatan exercises is a threat to regional peace and stability.”
“You’ll also hear that kind of statement coming from local proxies who are following the script coming from Beijing,” he said.
“Their narratives are consistent. They will create a lot of noise when elections are near or when there are surveys conducted, especially if they support certain candidates,” he also said.
INFLUENCERS
Ashley Acedillo, deputy director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, said Filipinos amplify the narratives of China, while others are amplified by influencers in the country who are either anti-administration or pro-China that divide Filipinos.
He told the hearing government can pool its resources to stop all of these.
“There is a technology component to it. There is a law enforcement component to it and there is also a regulatory component to it,” he said.
Acedillo also said several government agency websites have been attacked in the past months, mostly by “Chinese threat actors.”
Only recently, he said, 234 data breaches were recorded, 32 agencies exposed in the dark web, 91 credentials (passwords) compromised, and 266 digital assets compromised.
He said a Chinese threat actor managed to extract some 3.63 gigabytes of data from a government agency which he did not identify for security reasons.
He said another instance, “Aquatic Panda,” a suspected China-based threat group with a dual mission of intelligence collection and industrial espionage, attacked a government website from Aug. 10 to Dec. 21, 2023. He said the 1.6 GB information exfiltrated was transmitted to an IP address based in Hong Kong.
He said “Mustang Panda,” another threat actor operating since 2014, attacked another government website on May 23, 2024.
Acedillo said Aquatic Panda and Mustang Panda have telltale signs of Chinese tactics, techniques, and procedures in hacking websites.
“There are certain personalities that are tied to a nexus of Chinese official and unofficial networks here in the Philippines. They have been identified. They are Filipinos who talk to identified Chinese personalities, both official and unofficial, here in our country,” Acedillo said. – With Gerard Naval
