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Coronavirus pandemic
OpinionComment
Robert Boxwell
Robert Boxwell

Opinion | Is the door closing for Beijing’s ‘wolf warriors’ on Twitter amid a US-China disinformation war?

  • By fact-checking Donald Trump on other matters, Twitter has opened the door to a debate about who is posting what on its platform
  • With millions of Americans sickened by Covid-19 and public opinion hardening against Beijing, Twitter may find itself facing a public backlash

Reading Time:4 minutes
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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Robert Boxwell

The human and economic havoc wrought by Covid-19 has awakened Americans to a “war” many didn’t know the country was fighting, or didn’t care about – the US-China information war. It has been going on for decades. That Americans largely ignored it isn’t surprising. Most need bullets and bombs to think the United States is in a war.

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This began to change in the past decade as the number of voices speaking out about non-military wars grew. In addition to information, economic and cyberwars are in this category. Many nations more or less wage some form of information and economic war against their adversaries. Covid-19 has brought the US-China information war into clear focus in America.

When the virus first reached US shores, a reasonable expectation was that Beijing would be transparent about its origins, somehow make amends when Covid-19 was contained – even if it was just an apology – and take steps to ensure something like that didn’t happen again. The world would pull together and recover.

When Beijing instead sought to blame the United States for the coronavirus, Americans were astonished. The Pearl Harbour of this information war were two tweets by Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian, suggesting the US army brought the coronavirus to Wuhan.

A few members of Congress began asking what Beijing was doing on Twitter in the first place; two asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to remove Beijing’s “representatives” from the platform. Twitter replied in a tweet: “Official government accounts engaging in conversation about the origins of the virus … will be permitted” to stay on Twitter.

02:08

China says no evidence to suggest coronavirus virus came from Wuhan’s lab

China says no evidence to suggest coronavirus virus came from Wuhan’s lab
Twitter doesn’t just permit Beijing’s “conversation” on its platform. Bloomberg reported last August that Twitter officials actively assist Beijing in pushing its message, including how to amplify tweets and make them go viral.
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