No Rest for the Sick: Coronavirus Disinformation from Chinese Users Targets Taiwan
After news broke in January about a new strain of coronavirus that was spreading throughout the world, it wasn’t long before rumors and disinformation about the virus began to spread. As many observers have noted, the uncertainty surrounding the crisis has led to several cases of false information spreading, both intentionally and unintentionally, about the virus. A false message claiming that the virus had come to Taiwan went viral on social media the night before the country’s presidential election on January 11th, in a possible effort to reduce voter turnout. Rumors also spread in Russian and Chinese that the virus was a bioweapon targeting foreign populations.
Last week, a cross-platform disinformation campaign targeting Taiwan in particular proliferated on multiple social media platforms — including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Weibo. Building on local reporting in Taiwan and fact-checking from the Taiwan Fact Check Center (TFC), the Digital Intelligence Lab at Institute for the Future analyzed data around this operation. Overall, the influence of the campaign appeared to be small, but similar messages proliferated on different platforms throughout the week.
DigIntel’s analysis concludes that certain messages in this campaign are highly likely to have originated from China — we find it most likely that the main campaign was the work of Chinese netizens organizing messaging campaigns of their own accord. The Chinese term for such users is “little pinks”, 小粉紅. As we explore below, some of these messages showed clear signs of emanating from Chinese users. The Taiwanese Ministry of Justice and local media have also independently reached the same conclusions.
[This DigIntel report was also featured in BuzzFeed.]
The TLDR
- Users on Facebook disseminated disinformation about coronavirus using near-identical wordings that were spread to multiple groups. These messages falsely claimed that President Tsai Ing-wen and the Taiwanese government were hiding cases of coronavirus to ensure social stability, or that bodies of those who passed away were being hidden or burned in secret.
- Users on Weibo openly bragged about sowing disinformation about coronavirus on Facebook, and near-identical posts appeared on YouTube. Two rumors traced back to Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform popular in China. In both cases, users publicly posted comments admitting to sowing disinformation about coronavirus on their feeds.
- In several messages, writing and vocabulary choices point to mainland Chinese writers. While citizens in both Taiwan and China predominately speak Mandarin Chinese, the two territories have notable differences between their linguistic conventions. Many comments in this campaign used a form of writing only used in mainland China (simplified Chinese), and also used vocabulary that is common in China but not in Taiwan.
- Many aspects of this campaign showed overlap with previous disinformation and harassment campaigns from Chinese netizens, such as DiBa (帝吧), an informal volunteer group online that frequently organizes trolling campaigns attacking Taiwan and Hong Kong. DiBa has used similar language and methods in its attacks. This campaign features several puns and names that were plays on calling the Taiwanese people “frogs”, a term that plays on a Chinese idiom (井底之蛙) and is meant to imply that the Taiwanese are provincial, insignificant, and naive.
- Rumors alleging that the United States is also covering up cases of coronavirus are also spreading in Chinese. These rumors appear to be separate from the Taiwan campaign, but all cite the same YouTube video falsely alleging that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has covered up over 1,000 cases of the virus in the US. The People’s Daily, a Chinese state-owned media outlet, also ran an English-language news story citing the same video.
Campaign Begins on Facebook
Several users began posting formulaic messages, with slight alterations, on February 23rd. These messages all claim that Taiwan’s government is hiding the true number of coronavirus from its citizens.
The false messages above claim that the writer’s father overheard former DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) legislator and current Taipei city council member Wang Shih-chien admitting that Taiwan was hiding cases of coronavirus to maintain public stability.
是這樣的，我現在對台灣真的太失望了，我爸爸是民進黨議員，上次和王世堅聊天時提到肺炎，說現在台灣已經超過500例了，死亡200了，特別是花蓮和台北是重災區，但是蔡當局不敢公布，怕引起民憤，通知了幾家綠媒專門造謠抹黑對岸，我現在真的很憤怒，難道我們台灣人不配知道事情嗎?
“Here’s whats going on, I’m really too disappointed in Taiwan right now. My dad is a DPP legislator, last time he was talking to Wang Shih-chien, he brought up the [corona]virus and said there were over 500 cases in Taiwan, and 200 deaths. Taipei and Hualien are grave disaster zones, but the Tsai authorities won’t dare publicly announce it for fear of arousing public anger and notified several pro-DPP media outlets to make up rumors smearing China. I’m really angry right now, don’t the Taiwanese deserve to know these things?”*
TFC debunked this rumor in a recent fact checking post. Several other messages that showed signs of coordinated promotion by different users also spread on Facebook last week. One of these messages claimed that the ruling Democratic People’s Party (DPP) was attempting to profit from the crisis.
我表姐的老公就是這個工廠裡的，員工都被關在工廠裡，沒日沒夜的給菜菜子生產口罩，給民進黨謀取牟利！再怎樣以後我們就不投你們其實台灣的生產線也很多的，物質也很豐富充足，但是菜菜子和民進黨們想發國難財，就讓蘇貞昌故意壓制產量，哄抬物價，我說的都是真的，要是有假的，那就到高雄[…]來找我，我願意被扣上中共代理人的帽子，只求能讓愛民看到消息，求大家幫忙分享轉發和訂閱喔，謝謝大家了
My cousin’s husband works in a factory, and all the workers were locked in the factory making surgical masks for Tsai day and night so that the DPP could profit from it! No matter what we won’t vote for you again. Taiwan’s [surgical mask] production is actually strong, raw materials are abundant, but Tsai and the DPP want to make money off this national disaster. They made Su Tseng-chan suppress manufacturing to drive up the price. I’m telling the truth, if it was false, then come find me in Kaohsiung [at this address] , I’m willing to be labeled an agent of the CCP, I just want the beloved people to see this news. Please everyone help forward this message, thanks everyone
Several messages bearing resemblance to the one above were spread — users claimed to know secret or hidden information from a relative who uncovered secrets from working close to the government or overhearing government officials.
我朋友告訴我：他阿北是住在蔡英文辦公室壹個工作人員隔壁家的王姓阿北，說他聽見蔡辦人員打電話給蔡英文匯報。今天全臺確認222人。累計3446個人了，其中今天死亡十八個，怕引起恐慌他們把屍體拉到全臺各地分開燒。怕被人調查各地火葬廠死亡數。他們決定等在阿共仔那邊的臺商回來在說是阿共仔的陰謀。
My friend told me: his uncle (with the last name Wang) lives by an employee of Tsai [Ing-wen]’s office. He overheard the employee call Tsai Ing-wen [the President of Taiwan] and report to her. Today they’ve confirmed 222 people in all of Taiwan. The grand total is 3,446 people, among them 18 have died today, they’re afraid of [the public] panic, [so] they sent the corpses all around Taiwan to burn them. [The government is] afraid the number of bodies at all the crematoriums will be investigated. They decided to wait until the Taiwanese doing business in China return from where the commies are and say that the commies [the Chinese communist party] plotted it.
The message above interestingly attempts to use Taiwanese phrasings, such as 阿北 for uncle and 阿共仔 for communist party. Not all messages in this campaign were successful in making their messages sound Taiwanese.
Linguistic Shibboleths Point to Chinese Users
While Mandarin Chinese is the main language spoken in both Taiwan and China, significant linguistic differences exist between Taiwanese Mandarin and Chinese Mandarin. There can be differences in vocabulary, tones, and how characters are written. In disinformation campaigns such as this one, these differences can function as shibboleths, or language differences that reveal disinformation producers are not Taiwanese.
Some messages spreading rumors did not attempt to hide their origin — these used simplified characters, a system of writing used in China, rather than traditional characters, a system used in Taiwan. Other messages were written in traditional characters and attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to pose as real Taiwanese citizens.
As TFC and other local press in Taiwan have highlighted, several of the words used in the messages discussed above are terms used in China, but not in Taiwan. (These differences are similar to vocabulary differences between American and British English.)
- 保安 — “Security”, Taiwan uses the term 保全
- 井蓋 — “manhole cover”, Taiwan uses the term 孔蓋
- 信息 — “message”, Taiwan uses the term 訊息
- 疾控部門 — Department of Disease Control, Taiwan’s entity is the 疾管署 or the 中央疫情指揮中心.
- 台湾省 — “Taiwan province”, used to allege that Taiwan is part of China.
Screenshots of False Facebook Rumors Appear as “Evidence” on Twitter and Weibo
After false information was posted on Facebook, users on both Twitter and Weibo used screenshots of the disinformation to allege that Taiwan had lost control of the coronavirus within its borders.
The online collective DiBa, which frequently organizes trolling “expeditions” to attack Hong Kong and Taiwan, used screenshots of the same Facebook rumors mentioned above to continue spreading rumors on Chinese social media. DiBa’s post above reads “One more case of Taiwanese communities’ coronavirus occurred today, [that person] is the grandson of the 27th case and the son of the 28th case. The virus is now spreading within Taiwan, and not spreading across its border, it appears to slowly be turning into a hereditary disease. But looking at what’s revealed in Facebook messages, it’s not easy to be optimistic about the local situation.”
Other Weibo users in turn responded to DiBa with formulaic posts alleging the Taiwanese government was keeping cases of contraction hidden from the public.
On Twitter, another user (pictured above) posted a screenshot of one of the Facebook rumors and spread further disinformation about the virus, claiming the government was covering up cases of infection and arresting and silencing citizens for speaking the truth.
“Over 50 people are infected in a small neighborhood in New Taipei City, the government has strictly forbidden publicizing this concealed truth on the internet, on 2/23 that city pulled out 2 or 3 corpses, after people involved publicized it on FB they were arrested. The situation in that neighborhood is quite serious. People involved are criticizing politicians. Chen Shih-chung [Taiwan’s Minister of Health and Welfare], that trash, is just lying to people. Phone number of people involved: […] #Coronavirus #Taiwan”
Weibo Users Brag about Spreading False Messages about Coronavirus
我是不是太坏了 在fb上疯狂造菜菜子的谣，救救台灣！蔡政府隱瞞了好多 不敢公佈 台灣醫院已經得肺炎的人簽保密協議 不簽就不給治療 我真的是再一次的認清了蔡當局 我們台灣不是最美的風景線嗎？我一直以台灣為驕傲 結果頻頻做出然台灣人失望的事 你心理到底有沒有台灣人？ 就类似这种的…
How bad am I? Went on fb and spread rumors about veggie [a derogative term for Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen] like crazy, “Save Taiwan! The Tsai government has hidden so much I don’t dare say it Taiwan’s hospitals are already making people who have contracted coronavirus sign NDAs if you don’t sign you can’t get treatment I’m really realizing again, Tsai authorities, isn’t Taiwan such a pretty sight? I’ve always been proud of Taiwan, but [you] always go and do things that disappoint the Taiwanese people. Do you still care about the Taiwanese people?” That kind of thing…
The text in bold above — disinformation that this Weibo user claims to have spread on Facebook — also occurs in other posts on YouTube and Weibo.
Another Weibo user posts a falsified government document, and writes “now no one can tell if it’s real or fake”. While most of the document has been converted to traditional characters (Taiwan’s writing system), some characters are still in China’s simplified system. This and other factors helped TFC and ETTtoday determine the document was false. ETTtoday highlighted local Taiwanese police referred to this as a case of “trying to influence our country’s epidemic prevention work and the confidence of the people in the government”.
Similar Rumors Spread on Twitter
The campaign above shows clear signs of coordination, both in accusing the Tsai government of hiding cases of coronavirus, identical wordings, similar structures of messages, and usage of mainland Chinese phrasings.
Separately, several other messages on Twitter push similar false allegations, often with out-of-context photos from movies that claim to show devastation from the coronavirus in Taiwan.
“#Retweet — I am really anxious now, my brother works at a funeral home, yesterday evening they received special orders from the Presidential Palace to gather at the Taipei Arena and manage the burial of corpses of those who died from the lung disease [coronavirus]. Really so many people have died, we used an excavator to bury them, anywhere from 100 to 1000 corpses got buried in the gym of the arena that’s still under construction. My brother sent me this picture at the risk of dying, the country has a news lockdown. We can only depend on you all, save us common people. F***! This is too scary.
Other tweets also stole screenshots from another Korean movie, Train to Busan, claiming to show the city of Tainan had “lost control” of the coronavirus and alleging the city had “corpses strewn all around”.
On March 1st, other accounts began pushing the lie that President Tsai contracted coronavirus and has died. Some of these accounts refer to the Taiwanese president as “Governor Tsai” (蔡省长), a title meant to imply Taiwan is part of China.
Disinformation in Chinese about Coronavirus in the United States
Separately from the Taiwan operation described above, rumors about the United States government’s handling of coronavirus are also spreading in Chinese on Facebook and Twitter. These rumors target the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). On February 24th, The People’s Daily, a Chinese state-owned media outlet, ran an English-language news story citing an American YouTuber who claims that over 1,000 cases have occurred in the States. One user on Facebook also linked to this video and spread the same false narrative, using fake URL previews with the apparent intent of making the rumor appear more credible.
Coronavirus is the Perfect Storm for Disinformation Contagion
Coronavirus is a fertile breeding ground for further disinformation: much is as of yet unknown about the virus, regular citizens are worried about its potential spread, and — most crucially — the virus is touches on both health and politics, the two areas that have seen the greatest amount of disinformation activity in recent years. Outside of election season, health disinformation itself is more frequent than political disinformation in Taiwan, as local journalists and researchers have pointed out. Instances in other countries abound, such as Russia targeting Atlanta with disinformation about the Ebola virus in 2015.
This particular disinformation campaign holds a great irony — while it is false to claim that Taiwan’s government is hiding cases of coronavirus, the Chinese government itself kept the emergence of the virus at home secret from the world in early January. The Taiwanese Ministry of Justice’s Investigative Bureau cites Taiwan’s recent decision to stop exporting face masks as a possible motive for the recent disinformation attack targeting Taiwan. Whatever the possible motivations, this campaign also highlights a gap in our understanding of foreign interference — while foreign disinformation campaigns are traditionally understood as being state-led endeavors, they may not necessarily be. Transnational manipulation campaigns led by private entities or individuals are on the rise, and pose a new challenge from a regulatory standpoint.
While this campaign was unsuccessful in reaching large numbers of users or undermining faith in Taiwan’s response to the coronavirus crisis, it stands out for the sheer malice of its intent. Deliberately disseminating false information about a globally spreading crisis should give anyone pause. While many of these rumors are demonstrably false, they can still incur significant harm. Academic studies have proven the illusory truth effect — listeners will eventually believe false information if it is repeated enough times. Chinese sums up this study with an old idiom — “three people talking makes a tiger” (三人成虎). Continued presence of these rumors on social media presents a danger of muddying the waters and further destabilizing an already volatile situation.
*All translations are the work of the author.
