The Spanish-American War, which resulted in U.S. colonial relationships with Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines via annexation, is referred to as the “first media war” in some quarters and was also a watershed moment in the history of mis- and disinformation.

Epitomizing what came to be known as “yellow journalism,” the sensationalist reporting of U.S. newspapers owned by rival publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst rose to a fever pitch as their respective outlets fought for market share and oftentimes played fast and loose with the facts on the ground in their coverage of Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain.

Malaya Movement USA vehemently condemns the US government’s clandestine anti-vaccination and anti-China disinformation campaign aimed at Filipinos at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This psychological warfare operation, uncovered by Reuters, is an unconscionable act by the US military in an effort to discredit and attack its rival superpower, China, at the expense of thousands of Filipino lives. It contributed to unfounded anti-vaccination hesitancy at a time when the Philippines was experiencing some of the worst cases of COVID infections and deaths in the region.