CHINA DEFENDS USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORMS AMID ALLEGATIONS OF SPREADING DISINFORMATION

  • 18/02/2021

China defended its use of social networking platforms Twitter and Facebook following a report that it had used its growing media presence to spread disinformation about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.When asked about the report, the Foreign Ministry's top spokesperson, Hua Chunying, didn't directly address the allegations about China's role in spreading virus disinformation. However, she called the report ''exaggerated'' and said China should have the right to use social media too.

Earlier, an investigative report in collaboration with the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, found that powerful political figures and allied media in China, as well as the US, Russia and Iran, flooded the globe with disinformation about the virus.The report, published earlier this week, said that Chinese officials went on the offensive in reaction to a narrative nursed by former US President Donald Trump among others that the virus had been manufactured by China. Experts have largely ruled out that possibility.

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