A negative news report on Moderna vaccines recently set off a debate on China’s social media. Moderna is a drug company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The firm has developed a COVID-19 vaccine. On Jan. 27, an article titled “WHO Does Not Recommend MODERNA COVID-19 Vaccines” appeared on a host of Chinese state media outlets, including the Global Times, Guancha, iFeng Tech, and official accounts of local governments. This topic became so heated that it rocketed to fourth place on the list of the most searched hashtags on China’s social media Weibo. But the news reports turned out to be misrepresentations of information from the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO guidance issued on Jan. 25 advised against use of the Moderna vaccine for those under 18 or who are pregnant. Some netizens said the false news reports were an attempt to cater to xenophobic and nationalist sentiment among the Chinese. Some …