PR firm behind troll farms?

The Chinese Embassy in Manila contracted with a local public relations (PR) firm to boost policies of the People’s Republic of China in the Philippines, as well as influence opinions of Filipinos toward its interests, Senator Francis Tolentino said Thursday.

Tolentino made the revelation at the resumption of the Senate Special Committee on Philippine Maritime and Admiralty Zones hearing into espionage and underwater drones in the country.

During the hearing, he presented a copy of a service agreement contract between InfinitUs Marketing Solutions Inc., a Philippine-based PR firm, and the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines.

“This is a contract entered into by the Chinese Embassy and a local corporation whose service is to deploy keyboard warriors on social media,” Tolentino said, holding up the alleged documents.

The agreement, dated August 2023 and signed in Makati City, was reportedly entered into by Wu Chenqi, director of media and public relations of the Chinese Embassy, and Myka Poynton, marketing director of InfinitUs.

According to Tolentino, the firm was contracted to provide online “keyboard warriors” — individuals paid to assume fake personas, post propaganda, and engage in targeted online conversations to advance Beijing’s messaging and sow disinformation across Filipino social media circles.

Trolls among us

The senator said the “keyboard warriors” were most likely Filipinos, not foreign nationals.

“Most likely, these keyboard warriors are our fellow Filipinos. That’s what I was asking earlier — it’s not all based in China. They’re working here in the Philippines, providing services. That’s what I want the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate,” he said.

He added, “It’s not the fault of our fellow Filipinos who are working there if they don’t really know what they’re being asked to do.”

Tolentino also showed what he claimed was a Bank of China check amounting to P930,000, issued by the embassy and made payable to InfinitUs for services rendered under the same agreement.

“You can see here that the Chinese Embassy paid InfinitUs Marketing Solutions ₱930,000. The bank used was the Bank of China, for the activities mentioned in the service contract. This proves that the check, dated 2023, was for services under the contract with InfinitUs, which is a registered Filipino corporation. This confirms that China itself was paying,” he said.

Not just bots

“This isn’t a standard PR campaign,” Tolentino emphasized. “What’s being done here is the deliberate spreading of information to promote the Chinese government’s policies. The money paid by the Chinese Embassy wasn’t for public messaging — it was for something hidden and sinister.”

“It was to finance a troll farm,” he declared.

“Each fake persona pretending to be one of us — what’s appearing on Facebook is not a real person. That’s a troll, pretending. Our fellow Filipinos are being deceived. They don’t know this is financed by the People’s Republic of China through its embassy here in the Philippines. Some of them are even bashers,” he said.

He continued, “Ordinary social media users who friended or followed these fake personas were unknowingly interacting with accounts run by China. It’s now very clear: the Chinese government, through its embassy, is paying Filipinos to operate these troll farms.”

“All of the instructions,” he added, “are coming directly from the Chinese Embassy in Manila.”

DAILY TRIBUNE had sought a comment from the Chinese Embassy regarding the issue but it had yet to receive a response as of press time.