ONLINE WAR VS MARCOS
A coordinated network of Chinese-linked social media accounts has been actively pushing anti-President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. content while simultaneously amplifying pro-Vice President Sara Duterte narratives.
Niceforo Balbedina II of PressOnePH presented to the TriCom hearing yesterday its investigation into what it called Foreign Influence Operations (FIO) and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) in the Philippines.
He said Chinese state media has been actively spreading questionable narratives about the West Philippine Sea dispute while simultaneously promoting social media content related to Vice President Duterte.
“Kasagsagan ng March hanggang July, meron po kaming monitor na Chinese state media na actively po na nagso-sow ng iba’t ibang at mga kuwestyonableng impormasyon tungkol sa sigalot sa West Philippine Sea,” Balbedina said.
“At ito po yung pinaka-latest na meron po kami na hukay na pro-China na network of X accounts na nagsususog ng anti-Philippine sentiment, habang nagpupush ng content related po kay Vice President Sara Duterte,” he said.
Balbedina identified China Daily, China’s largest English-language newspaper, and its TikTok affiliate “Media Unlocked” as among the sources of AI-generated disinformation content.
“Dito po sa channel na ito, nag-upload po sila ng mga videos na gumagamit ng AI at na-questionable po ang content,” he explained.
He further revealed that after PressOnePH published investigative stories exposing the channel, it was flooded with negative comments from Filipinos, leading to its eventual takedown.
However, it resurfaced shortly after, amassing millions of followers despite having no content.
Balbedina noted that many of these so-called followers were from Spanish-speaking countries and showed no interest in the WPS, raising suspicions that they were bot-generated or bought from online growth services.
“Possible hong nabili ho siya sa mga online growth services. So hindi po siya, hindi siya totoo ang accounts na in a sense na hindi siya totoo na yung pag-interact doon sa issue na yun,” he explained.
The network of accounts, mostly operating on X (formerly Twitter), was found to be systematically posting content attacking President Marcos Jr. while boosting engagement around Vice President Duterte.
“Chinese in nature yung accounts, pero ‘yung siya-share po nila ang picture, may Tagalog ng mga kataga,” Balbedina pointed out, highlighting the suspicious activity.
A particularly alarming discovery was the resurfacing of the debunked “polvoron” video, which falsely alleged that the President was using illegal drugs.
“So yun, yes yung po yung tamang term din ni resurface, ni-recycle po nila yung polvoron issue during itong mga panahon po na ito as a reaction to the signing of the landmark laws,” Balbedina confirmed.
PressOnePH investigators identified 107 suspicious accounts as of Feb. 4, 2025, that were spreading anti-Philippine sentiment, many of which had Chinese names and were created simultaneously.
“Meron po kaming nai-identify na 107 accounts as of 11 a.m. this morning na nagpapakalat nang mga anti-Philippine sentiment on Twitter. Yung mga accounts po nito, yung iba sa kanila, Chinese ang pangalan. Karamihan sa kanila, sabay-sabay ginawa,” he said.
“Yung posting activity po nila ay very reactionary sa oras at sa development sa ating bansa. So for example yung Polvoron video, sobrang dami po nilang basis nilabas yun. Right after napirmahan yung maritime zones law at yung baselines law,” Balbedina explained.
Apart from attacking the President, the network of Chinese-linked accounts also shared content criticizing US involvement in the WPS and framing Philippine efforts to assert its sovereignty as a US-led “proxy war.”
“Anti-Philippine sentiments po. Against West Philippine Sea efforts ng Pilipinas and against our President,” Balbedina stressed.
The same network of Chinese-linked accounts actively promoted content that favored Duterte, referencing two key news articles – one from Rappler on August 8 and another from Philstar on August 10 – where Duterte criticized the Marcos administration and made controversial remarks about cash, illegal drugs and partying.
The frequency of these posts appeared to coincide with negative news developments about Duterte.
“At lumalabas po yung mga tweets nilang yun kasi sabay na mga development sa hearing po ng Quad Comm. So lumabas yung tweets nila nung na-implicate yung ilang family members ng Duterte family sa isang drug case. Tapos lumabas ulit nang sabay-sabay yung tweets nung na-implicate naman yung DepEd and OVP sa funds,” Balbedina revealed.
In response to these foreign disinformation efforts, social media platform X temporarily restricted some of the Chinese-linked accounts involved in coordinated attacks against Marcos Jr.
However, only 24 out of the 107 identified accounts were permanently removed.
Investigators also found evidence of fraudulent account creation, as several of these suspended Chinese-linked accounts had profile photos that were stock images or AI-generated pictures.
“A quick Google reverse image search of the profile photo used by one of the accounts flagged by PressOnePH revealed that it was a stock photo previously used in advertising,” the PresOnePH report revealed.
Despite these suspensions, the coordinated pro-China network remains active, finding new ways to bypass platform restrictions.
