A network of pro-China X (formerly Twitter) accounts has been actively running a strategic campaign against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and the Philippines’s efforts in the disputed West Philippine Sea, while simultaneously boosting content in favor of Vice President Sara Duterte.
The accounts posted identical content, including screenshots or snippets of the fake “polvoron” video falsely depicting Marcos using illegal drugs, three Chinese-language blog posts criticizing US involvement in Philippine maritime affairs, and two news stories featuring Vice President Sara Duterte, who has kept mum on the West Philippine Sea dispute while criticizing the president.
Since November 2024, PressOne.PH has been monitoring the network, tracking its campaign alongside key political events, including Marcos Jr.’s signing of maritime laws and congressional probes into alleged fund misuse in offices headed by Duterte.
As of this writing, nearly a hundred X accounts exhibiting patterns of coordination have been identified, a quarter of which have Chinese usernames. Collectively, the network has generated some 770 tweets featuring identical content shared across the accounts.
The account usernames follow a suspicious pattern: a generic first name, the first three letters of a supposed surname, and a series of numbers. Meanwhile, a reverse image search of their profile pictures reveal that some were sourced from advertisements, AI-generated images, pornography, or from other social media accounts.
This influence campaign extends beyond Philippine politics, potentially fostering division and weakening the country’s stance on the West Philippine Sea amid a critical midterm election.
Read the full story on PressOne.PH.