Marketing firm invited to Senate probe into China-funded troll farm

Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino presents a copy of a check reportedly issued by the Chinese embassy to InfinitUs Marketing, purportedly to discredit the Philippine government, during a recent Senate hearing. — File photo

MANILA, Philippines — Makati-based firm InfinitUs Marketing Solutions Inc., allegedly working with the Chinese embassy in the Philippines to discredit the Philippine government, and purported anti-China Filipino personalities have been invited to a Senate inquiry slated for next week.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, who is leading a probe on foreign espionage and interference, said the hearing is scheduled for May 5.

“Yes, invitations have been sent yesterday,” said Tolentino on Thursday when he was asked about the matter.

“Our end point here is to really strengthen our democratic system. We cannot make this bulletproof, but to make democracy stronger in our country,” he added.

Tolentino said his committee will allow InfinitUs to either refute or air its side regarding the allegedly questionable deal it signed with the Chinese embassy in 2023 to provide, among others, keyboard warriors to push pro-Beijing narratives on social media amid the West Philippine Sea dispute.

Tolentino, meanwhile, pointed out that troll farm operators and keyboard warriors allegedly hired by the Makati-based firm cannot invoke “freedom of expression,” since this right is attached only to humans and not to fake accounts that they create posing as real persons.

Earlier, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya dropped a bombshell during the Senate’s special panel on maritime and admiralty zones’ hearing, saying that China is dipping its toes in the Philippines’ midterm polls.

“There are indications that information operations are being conducted or that Chinese state-sponsored in the Philippines are actually interfering in the forthcoming elections,” said Malaya during the hearing.

Tolentino, who was presiding over the hearing as panel head chair, asked if China has ongoing operations to support candidates that they want to win and control candidates whom they do not prefer.

To which Malaya answered in the affirmative.

China, for its part, brushed off the reports, saying that it has no interest in interfering with Philippine elections.

READ: Tolentino bares evidence of China troll farm to discredit PH gov’t