Chinese agents reportedly helped spread false information about a looming U.S. coronavirus lockdown

U.S. officials believe Chinese agents helped spread false information about an impending coronavirus lockdown throughout the United States last month, The New York Times reports.

Messages that spread over social media and through text messages in mid-March claimed the Trump administration was about to lock down the country amid the coronavirus crisis, with one claiming this would be announced "as soon as they have troops in place to help prevent looters and rioters." The National Security Council ultimately clarified that these rumors were false and "there is no national lockdown."

U.S. intelligence agencies have since "assessed that Chinese operatives helped push the messages across platforms," and officials are particularly alarmed "because the disinformation showed up as texts on many Americans' cellphones, a tactic that several of the officials said they had not seen before," the Times reports. Two officials reportedly said they didn't believe Chinese operatives actually created the messages but instead helped amplify ones that already existed. The agents have reportedly used fake social media accounts, as well as seemingly messaging apps like WhatsApp.

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Agencies have now started to examine "new ways" China, Russia, and others are spreading disinformation online amid the pandemic, and intelligence officers are "also examining whether spies in China's diplomatic missions in the United States helped spread the fake lockdown messages," the Times reports. Read more at The New York Times.