- In mid-March, messages warning that the National Guard was preparing to enforce a nationwide quarantine across the US went viral on social media and WhatsApp.
- The White House National Security Council debunked them at the time, tweeting that "Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE."
- Now, US intelligence officials believe Chinese agents helped spread the
misinformation in order to incite panic, according to a New York Times report citing six unnamed officials. - Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
If you spent a lot of time online last month, you probably remember seeing panicked messages claiming that the Trump administration was preparing to deploy the national guard to enforce a nationwide
Such fake messages were shared widely via text and on messaging services like WhatsApp in March, usually originating from a person who claimed their aunt or cousin works in the Pentagon or for the CIA.
—NSC (@WHNSC) March 16, 2020
Now, US intelligence officials believe that Chinese agents were partially responsible for sharing the fake warnings far and wide in order to spread panic, according to a new report from The New York Times.
Citing six unnamed US officials who work in six different unnamed agencies, The Times reports that Chinese agents are engaging in a global disinformation campaign surrounding
But details of the disinformation campaign remain shaky — it's not clear where the fake text messages originated, and two sources told The Times that Chinese agents helped spread the messages but didn't create them.
It's also unclear how Chinese agents contributed to the "hidden viral" text messages, which were largely spread through private channels like direct messages and WhatsApp chats rather than in public forums.
The Chinese foreign ministry denied The Times' report, and foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian has disputed broader claims that
Read The Times' full report here.
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