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Conspiracy Theory Coronavirus: Origins
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I still reckon AIDS was man made, tested on Africans and got out of control because whoever made it had no idea what they had unleashed.
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The Coronavirus Outbreak Is a Petri Dish for Conspiracy Theories
In times of crisis, a combination of heightened emotions and lack of information combine to create the one thing nearly every conspiracy needs: fearful minds.
Misinformation about a new, deadly coronavirus has gone viral. Conspiracy theories and wild claims have been spreading across the global internet since Chinese officials first announced, on December 31, that a mysterious pneumonia was sweeping through the city of Wuhan. A little over a month later, the coronavirus—a respiratory illness that has killed at least 360 people and infected thousands more in over 20 countries—has become a chief concern of not just the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but for tech companies like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok. Real human life is at stake, and information channels are clotted with hysteria and falsehood.
‘Twas ever thus. Conspiracy theories have dogged disasters and outbreaks of illness probably forever. While the Black Plague ravaged Europe in the 1300s, people became convinced that their Jewish neighbors were furtively poisoning good Christian wells for … reasons. Conspiracy theories about the Wuhan coronavirus, which range from believing the disease is a bioweapon to the result of eating bat soup, are playing an ancient chord. As always, it sounds anxious, racist, and distinctly out of tune with reality.
Falsehoods about coronavirus fall into two major categories: conspiracy theories about the origins of the illness and misinformation about miracle cures. No one knows exactly where this new form of coronavirus came from, though it seems likely that it leapt from animals to humans. Some scientists believe the animal vector may have been bats. It is unlikely, however, that you’d get it from eating bat soup, as one conspiracy theory claimed, sparking racially tinged online outrage about supposed Chinese eating habits causing a pandemic. One of the most prominent bits of video evidence was actually a segment from a travel show shot in 2016 in Palau, not China. Bat soup is not a commonly eaten food in the region.
Other popular theories include that the virus is actually a bioweapon that somehow escaped from the secure lab at Wuhan Institute of Virology, citing a former Israeli intelligence officer who himself admits that there is no evidence to back such a theory. Then there’s the idea that a husband and wife “spy team” of scientists stole the coronavirus from Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory. (A virologist was suspended following a “policy breach,” but the report theorists reference makes no mention of her being a Chinese spy or ever illicitly sending a virus to China.) Many felt that the virus was somehow a coverup or a plot, claiming that the disease was not new at all based on a variety of alleged proofs: a vaccine patent for a coronavirus, labels on cleaning products like Clorox and Lysol claiming to be able to kill it. In both cases, theorists overlooked or didn’t understand that “coronavirus” is a category of viruses, not a single sickness. The one spreading across the globe now is called 2019-nCoV, and unfortunately can’t be treated with any known vaccine or Lysol.
Of course, not everyone is preoccupied with the disease’s origins. There’s also a lot of dubious, and even dangerous, misinformation about how to treat coronavirus or prevent getting it. These notions range from bizarre yet mundane bits of advice (like avoiding spicy food and cold foods) to suggestions so awful they sound like they came straight from 4chan (like drinking bleach). At present, WHO’s only recommendations for coronavirus infection prevention are thoroughly cooking any animal products you consume, practicing good hygiene, and keeping a meter between yourself and anyone who appears sick.
2019-nCoV may be new, but the kind of conspiracy theories and misinformation that have come to surround it are not. “This falls into a pattern we see over and over again whenever there is a new disease or disaster,” says Joseph Uscinski, author of American Conspiracy Theories. In times of crisis, a combination of heightened emotions and lack of information combine to create the perfect petri dishes for conspiracy theories: fearful minds.
Conspiracy theories (and, apparently, coronavirus phishing scams) promise answers and explanations people desperately want, but can’t find through normal, factual means. “Conspiracy theories in this space of disaster and epidemic get really intense and really serious quickly,” says Brian Houston, who researches disaster-related mental health and communication. “They are so easy to spread because these events are existential. They kill.” And not in the way that cars or sharks do, either. Coronavirus is scientifically more terrifying. “The literature says that the things that tend to scare us the most are risks we can’t observe, and risks that are new and not understandable,” Houston adds. That describes this new coronavirus to a T.
On top of how scary the coronavirus is, the information ecosystem that its conspiracy theories have infected is ill-equipped to combat them. Not in the dull “the internet is evil'' sort of way, either. People have been receiving bad information during public health emergencies for almost as long as there have been public health emergencies; it’s not necessarily the internet’s fault for pin-balling that info around. If anything, there’s a bit of a silver lining: the internet (indeed, this very story!) can help provide more accurate details.
“People tend to blame the internet for these conspiracy theories, but rumors spread quite easily before the internet,” Uscinski says. “Just because a conspiracy theory can travel instantaneously across the net doesn’t mean that everyone who sees it is going to believe in it.”
That doesn’t mean the web is totally innocent, though. The political context online has definitely played a role in the response to this disease. In US-centric parts of the internet, people have been stoking xenophobia and fear of globalism for years, and specific anti-Chinese sentiment has been rising along with the tariffs on imports from the country. It doesn’t help that the Chinese government is providing little transparency into the events unfolding, and that the internet in China is largely cordoned off, either by firewall or language barrier. As a result, many of the conspiracy theories surrounding the coronavirus have been misinterpretations (willful or otherwise) of unrelated videos originally posted to Chinese platforms like Weibo or WeChat, which most Americans will likely never visit, much less understand.
As the misinformation about coronavirus has spread, tech companies have been trying to return the focus to the truth. Facebook has pledged to remove content spreading false claims about the virus. Twitter has issued permanent suspensions to organizations like Zero Hedge for spreading conspiracy theories, and has released a new feature in affected countries that privileges authoritative information in search. TikTok has reportedly committed to removing misinformation, and is encouraging users to verify information with WHO when they search for coronavirus content. Still, these measures may not be enough to sate people’s need for answers. “Misinformation comes into the world fully formed,” says Houston. “Real information is slow.” Trouble is, in situations like a disease outbreak that could become a global pandemic, no one wants the only advice worth giving: wait.
In times of crisis, a combination of heightened emotions and lack of information combine to create the one thing nearly every conspiracy needs: fearful minds.
Misinformation about a new, deadly coronavirus has gone viral. Conspiracy theories and wild claims have been spreading across the global internet since Chinese officials first announced, on December 31, that a mysterious pneumonia was sweeping through the city of Wuhan. A little over a month later, the coronavirus—a respiratory illness that has killed at least 360 people and infected thousands more in over 20 countries—has become a chief concern of not just the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but for tech companies like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok. Real human life is at stake, and information channels are clotted with hysteria and falsehood.
‘Twas ever thus. Conspiracy theories have dogged disasters and outbreaks of illness probably forever. While the Black Plague ravaged Europe in the 1300s, people became convinced that their Jewish neighbors were furtively poisoning good Christian wells for … reasons. Conspiracy theories about the Wuhan coronavirus, which range from believing the disease is a bioweapon to the result of eating bat soup, are playing an ancient chord. As always, it sounds anxious, racist, and distinctly out of tune with reality.
Falsehoods about coronavirus fall into two major categories: conspiracy theories about the origins of the illness and misinformation about miracle cures. No one knows exactly where this new form of coronavirus came from, though it seems likely that it leapt from animals to humans. Some scientists believe the animal vector may have been bats. It is unlikely, however, that you’d get it from eating bat soup, as one conspiracy theory claimed, sparking racially tinged online outrage about supposed Chinese eating habits causing a pandemic. One of the most prominent bits of video evidence was actually a segment from a travel show shot in 2016 in Palau, not China. Bat soup is not a commonly eaten food in the region.
Other popular theories include that the virus is actually a bioweapon that somehow escaped from the secure lab at Wuhan Institute of Virology, citing a former Israeli intelligence officer who himself admits that there is no evidence to back such a theory. Then there’s the idea that a husband and wife “spy team” of scientists stole the coronavirus from Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory. (A virologist was suspended following a “policy breach,” but the report theorists reference makes no mention of her being a Chinese spy or ever illicitly sending a virus to China.) Many felt that the virus was somehow a coverup or a plot, claiming that the disease was not new at all based on a variety of alleged proofs: a vaccine patent for a coronavirus, labels on cleaning products like Clorox and Lysol claiming to be able to kill it. In both cases, theorists overlooked or didn’t understand that “coronavirus” is a category of viruses, not a single sickness. The one spreading across the globe now is called 2019-nCoV, and unfortunately can’t be treated with any known vaccine or Lysol.
Of course, not everyone is preoccupied with the disease’s origins. There’s also a lot of dubious, and even dangerous, misinformation about how to treat coronavirus or prevent getting it. These notions range from bizarre yet mundane bits of advice (like avoiding spicy food and cold foods) to suggestions so awful they sound like they came straight from 4chan (like drinking bleach). At present, WHO’s only recommendations for coronavirus infection prevention are thoroughly cooking any animal products you consume, practicing good hygiene, and keeping a meter between yourself and anyone who appears sick.
2019-nCoV may be new, but the kind of conspiracy theories and misinformation that have come to surround it are not. “This falls into a pattern we see over and over again whenever there is a new disease or disaster,” says Joseph Uscinski, author of American Conspiracy Theories. In times of crisis, a combination of heightened emotions and lack of information combine to create the perfect petri dishes for conspiracy theories: fearful minds.
Conspiracy theories (and, apparently, coronavirus phishing scams) promise answers and explanations people desperately want, but can’t find through normal, factual means. “Conspiracy theories in this space of disaster and epidemic get really intense and really serious quickly,” says Brian Houston, who researches disaster-related mental health and communication. “They are so easy to spread because these events are existential. They kill.” And not in the way that cars or sharks do, either. Coronavirus is scientifically more terrifying. “The literature says that the things that tend to scare us the most are risks we can’t observe, and risks that are new and not understandable,” Houston adds. That describes this new coronavirus to a T.
On top of how scary the coronavirus is, the information ecosystem that its conspiracy theories have infected is ill-equipped to combat them. Not in the dull “the internet is evil'' sort of way, either. People have been receiving bad information during public health emergencies for almost as long as there have been public health emergencies; it’s not necessarily the internet’s fault for pin-balling that info around. If anything, there’s a bit of a silver lining: the internet (indeed, this very story!) can help provide more accurate details.
“People tend to blame the internet for these conspiracy theories, but rumors spread quite easily before the internet,” Uscinski says. “Just because a conspiracy theory can travel instantaneously across the net doesn’t mean that everyone who sees it is going to believe in it.”
That doesn’t mean the web is totally innocent, though. The political context online has definitely played a role in the response to this disease. In US-centric parts of the internet, people have been stoking xenophobia and fear of globalism for years, and specific anti-Chinese sentiment has been rising along with the tariffs on imports from the country. It doesn’t help that the Chinese government is providing little transparency into the events unfolding, and that the internet in China is largely cordoned off, either by firewall or language barrier. As a result, many of the conspiracy theories surrounding the coronavirus have been misinterpretations (willful or otherwise) of unrelated videos originally posted to Chinese platforms like Weibo or WeChat, which most Americans will likely never visit, much less understand.
As the misinformation about coronavirus has spread, tech companies have been trying to return the focus to the truth. Facebook has pledged to remove content spreading false claims about the virus. Twitter has issued permanent suspensions to organizations like Zero Hedge for spreading conspiracy theories, and has released a new feature in affected countries that privileges authoritative information in search. TikTok has reportedly committed to removing misinformation, and is encouraging users to verify information with WHO when they search for coronavirus content. Still, these measures may not be enough to sate people’s need for answers. “Misinformation comes into the world fully formed,” says Houston. “Real information is slow.” Trouble is, in situations like a disease outbreak that could become a global pandemic, no one wants the only advice worth giving: wait.
exe ex machina
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Conspiracy theories
Chinese biological weapon
In January 2020, the BBC published an article about coronavirus misinformation, citing two 24 January articles from the The Washington Times which claimed the virus was part of a Chinese biological weapons program, based at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).[1][13] The Washington Post later published an article debunking the conspiracy theory, citing U.S. experts who explained why the Institute was not suitable for bioweapon research, that most countries had abandoned bioweapons as fruitless, and that there was no evidence that the virus was genetically engineered.[14]
In February 2020, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) as well as Francis Boyle, a law professor, suggested that the virus may have been a Chinese bioweapon,[15] while in the opinion of numerous medical experts there is no evidence for this.[16] Conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh said the virus was probably "a ChiCom laboratory experiment" and that the Chinese were weaponizing the virus and media hysteria surrounding it to bring down Donald Trump, on the most-listened-to radio show in the US.[17][18] In February 2020, The Financial Times reported from virus expert and global co-lead coronavirus investigator, Trevor Bedford, who said that "There is no evidence whatsoever of genetic engineering that we can find", and that, "The evidence we have is that the mutations [in the virus] are completely consistent with natural evolution".[19] Bedford further explained, "The most likely scenario, based on genetic analysis, was that the virus was transmitted by a bat to another mammal between 20–70 years ago. This intermediary animal—not yet identified—passed it on to its first human host in the city of Wuhan in late November or early December 2019".[19]
On 29 January, financial news website and blog ZeroHedge suggested, without evidence, that a scientist at the WIV created the COVID-19 strain responsible for the coronavirus outbreak. Zerohedge listed the full contact details of the scientist supposedly responsible, a practice known as doxing, by including the scientist's name, photo and phone number, suggesting to readers that they "pay [the Chinese scientist] a visit" if they wanted to know "what really caused the coronavirus pandemic".[20] Twitter later permanently suspended the blog's account for violating its platform manipulation policy.[21] Zerohedge has since claimed the article did not claim the virus was human-made and that it only publicised publicly available details of the scientist.[22]
Logo of Umbrella Corporation
In January 2020, Buzzfeed News also reported on an internet meme/conspiracy theory of a link between the logo of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and "Umbrella Corporation", the agency that made the virus that starts the zombie apocalypse in the Resident Evil franchise. The theory also saw a link between "Racoon" (the main city in Resident Evil), and an anagram of "Corona" (the name of the virus).[23] The popularity of this theory attracted the attention of Snopes, who proved it as false showing that the logo was not from the Institute, but from Shanghai Ruilan Bao Hu San Biotech Limited, located approximately 500 miles (800 km) away in Shanghai and additionally pointed out that the proper name of the city in Resident Evil is Raccoon City.[23]
The Inverse reported that "Christopher Bouzy, the founder of Bot Sentinel, did a Twitter analysis for Inverse and found [online] bots and trollbots are making an array of false claims. These bots are claiming China intentionally created the virus, that it's a biological weapon, that Democrats are overstating the threat to hurt Donald Trump and more. While we can't confirm the origin of these bots, they are decidedly pro-Trump."[24]
Misinformation aside, concerns on accidental leakage by the WIV remain.[25] In 2017, U.S. molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright, expressed caution when the WIV was expanded to become mainland China's first biosafety level 4 (BSL–4) laboratory, noting previous escapes of the SARS virus at other Chinese laboratories.[26] While Ebright refuted several conspiracy theories regarding the WIV (e.g. bioweapons research, that the virus was engineered), he told BBC China that this did not represent the possibility of the virus being "completely ruled out" from entering the population due to a laboratory accident.[25] On 6 February, the White House asked scientists and medical researchers to rapidly investigate the origins of the virus in order to address both the current spread and "to inform future outbreak preparation and better understand animal/human and environmental transmission aspects of coronaviruses."[27]
Tobias Ellwood M.P. and Chairman of the British Defence Select Committee, also publicly questioned the role of the Chinese Army's Wuhan Institute for Biological Products and called for the "greater transparency over the origins of the coronavirus".[28]
South China Morning Post reported that one of the Institute's lead researchers, Shi Zhengli, was the particular focus of personal attacks in Chinese social media who alleged her work on bat-based viruses as the source of the virus, leading Shi to post: "I swear with my life, [the virus] has nothing to do with the lab", and when asked by the SCMP to comment on the attacks, Shi responded: "My time must be spent on more important matters".[29] Caixin reported Shi made further public statements against "perceived tinfoil-hat theories about the new virus's source", quoting her as saying: "The novel 2019 coronavirus is nature punishing the human race for keeping uncivilized living habits. I, Shi Zhengli, swear on my life that it has nothing to do with our laboratory".[30]
Far-right commentator Josh Bernstein claimed that the Democratic Party and the “medical deep state” were collaborating with the Chinese government to create and release the coronavirus in order to bring down Donald Trump. Bernstein went on to suggest that those responsible should be locked in a room with infected coronavirus patients as punishment. [31]
US biological weapon
On 3 March, US Senator Marco Rubio, member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Committee on Foreign Relations, claimed that "malign actors in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and elsewhere are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to sow chaos through conspiracy theories – most heinously, the notion that the United States created the disease".[32] He claimed that those states are "waging disinformation warfare over coronavirus", mirroring the charges of being victims of disinformation warfare presented by those states.[33][34][35]
Russian accusation
Further information: Cyberwarfare by Russia and Propaganda in the Russian Federation
On 22 February, US officials alleged that Russia is behind an ongoing disinformation campaign, using thousands of social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to deliberately promote unfounded conspiracy theories, claiming that the virus is a biological weapon manufactured by the CIA and the US is waging economic war on China using the virus.[36][37][38] The acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, Philip Reeker, said that "Russia's intent is to sow discord and undermine US institutions and alliances from within" and "by spreading disinformation about coronavirus, Russian malign actors are once again choosing to threaten public safety by distracting from the global health response".[36] Russia denies the allegation, saying "this is a deliberately false story".[39]
According to the US-based The National Interest magazine, although official Russian channels had been muted on pushing the US biowarfare conspiracy theory, other Russian media elements don't share the Kremlin's restraint.[40] Zvezda, a news outlet funded by the Russian Defense Ministry, published an article titled "Coronavirus: American biological warfare against Russia and China", claiming that the virus is intended to damage the Chinese economy, weakening its hand in the next round of trade negotiations.[40] Ultra-nationalist politician and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, claimed on a Moscow radio station that the virus was an experiment by the Pentagon and pharmaceutical companies. Politician Igor Nikulin made rounds on Russian television and news media, arguing that Wuhan was chosen for the attack because the presence of a BSL-4 virus lab provided a cover story for the Pentagon and CIA about a Chinese bio-experiment leak.[40]
Iranian accusation
According to Radio Farda, Iranian cleric Seyyed Mohammad Saeedi accused US President Donald Trump of targeting Qom with coronavirus "to damage its culture and honor." Saeedi claimed that "by targeting Qom, Trump is fulfilling his promise of hitting Iranian cultural sites if Iranians took revenge for the U.S. killing of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.[41]
Iranian researcher Ali Akbar Raefipour claimed that the coronavirus was part of a "hybrid warfare" programme waged by the United States on Iran and China.[42] His claims are reinforced in the Iranian public minds as 8% of their parliament have contracted Coronavirus
Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iranian Civil Defense Organization, claimed that the coronavirus is likely biological attack on China and Iran with economic goals.[43][34]
Hossein Salami, the head of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that the coronavirus outbreak in Iran may be due to a US "biological attack".[44]
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to the United Nation on 9 March, claiming that "it is clear to the world that the mutated coronavirus was produced in lab" and that COVID-19 is “a new weapon for establishing and/or maintaining political and economic upper hand in the global arena."[45]
Chinese accusation
According to London-based The Economist, conspiracy theories about COVID-19 being the CIA's creation to keep China down are all over the Chinese internet.[46] Although biological warfare against Chinese troops in the Korean war is only considered an allegation in US, it is considered official history in China, thus greatly helping these new theories gain credibility.[47]
Multiple conspiracy articles in Chinese from SARS-era resurfaced during the outbreak with altered details, claiming that SARS is biological warfare conducted by America against China. Some of these articles claim that BGI Group from China sold genetic information of the Chinese race to America, with America then being able to deploy the virus specifically targeting the gene of Chinese individuals.[48]
On 26 January, Chinese military news site Xilu published an article detailing how the virus was artificially combined by America to "precisely target Chinese people".[49] The article was removed after early February.
Some articles on popular sites in Chinese have also cast suspicion on US military athletes participating in the Wuhan 2019 Military World Games which lasted until the end of October 2019 to have deployed the virus. They claim the inattentive attitude and disproportionately below average results of American athletes in the game indicate they might have been in for other purposes and they might actually be bio-warfare operatives, and that their place of residence during their stay in Wuhan was also close to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the first known cluster of cases occurred.[50][47]
Arab world
According to Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Middle East Media Research Institute, numerous writers in the Arabic press have promoted the conspiracy theory that COVID-19, as well as SARS and the swine flu virus, were deliberately created and spread by the US to make a profit on selling vaccines against these diseases, and it is "part of an economic and psychological war waged by the U.S. against China with the aim of weakening it and presenting it as a backward country and a source of diseases".[51] Iraqi political analyst Sabah Al-Akili on Al-Etejah TV, Saudi daily Al-Watan writer Sa'ud Al-Shehry, Syrian daily Al-Thawra columnist Hussein Saqer, and Egyptian journalist Ahmad Rif'at on Egyptian news website Vetogate, were some examples given by MEMRI as the propagation of the US biowarfare conspiracy theory in the Arabic world.[51]
Philippines
Filipino Senator, Tito Sotto, played a bioweapon conspiracy video in a February Senate hearing, suggesting that the coronavirus is biowarfare waged against China.[32][52]
Zionist biological weapon
Iran's Press TV asserted that "Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of coronavirus against Iran".[53] Similarly, various Arab media outlets accused Israel and the United States of creating and spreading Covid-19, avian flu, and SARS.[54]
Spy operation
Some people have alleged that the coronavirus was stolen from a Canadian virus research lab by Chinese scientists, citing a news article by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in July 2019.[55] The CBC claimed their early report was distorted by misinformation, and that Eric Morrissette, chief of media relations for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada said that conspiracy theory had "no factual basis". Further, while the Chinese scientists had sent disease samples back to Beijing, neither sample sent during the 31 March 2019 transfer from Winnipeg, Canada to Beijing, China, was the current coronavirus. The current location of the missing Chinese researchers is confidential pending investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There is also no publicly available proof that the missing Chinese scientists were responsible for sending the pathogens to China.[56][57][58] In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, a senior research associate and expert in biological warfare with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, referring to a NATO press conference, identified suspicions of espionage as the reason behind the expulsions from the lab, but made no suggestion that coronavirus was taken from the Canadian lab or that it is the result of bioweapons defense research in China.[59]
Population control scheme
According to the BBC, Jordan Sather, a conspiracy theory YouTuber supporting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory and the anti-vax movement, has falsely claimed the outbreak was a population control scheme created by Pirbright Institute in England and by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.[1][60]
Sam Hyde
A hoax post on Facebook claimed that Sam Hyde, who is described as an international biological weapons terrorist, was behind the outbreak. Hyde, a comedian, had previously been blamed for over a dozen mass shootings as part of a long-running meme.[61]
Chinese biological weapon
In January 2020, the BBC published an article about coronavirus misinformation, citing two 24 January articles from the The Washington Times which claimed the virus was part of a Chinese biological weapons program, based at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).[1][13] The Washington Post later published an article debunking the conspiracy theory, citing U.S. experts who explained why the Institute was not suitable for bioweapon research, that most countries had abandoned bioweapons as fruitless, and that there was no evidence that the virus was genetically engineered.[14]
In February 2020, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) as well as Francis Boyle, a law professor, suggested that the virus may have been a Chinese bioweapon,[15] while in the opinion of numerous medical experts there is no evidence for this.[16] Conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh said the virus was probably "a ChiCom laboratory experiment" and that the Chinese were weaponizing the virus and media hysteria surrounding it to bring down Donald Trump, on the most-listened-to radio show in the US.[17][18] In February 2020, The Financial Times reported from virus expert and global co-lead coronavirus investigator, Trevor Bedford, who said that "There is no evidence whatsoever of genetic engineering that we can find", and that, "The evidence we have is that the mutations [in the virus] are completely consistent with natural evolution".[19] Bedford further explained, "The most likely scenario, based on genetic analysis, was that the virus was transmitted by a bat to another mammal between 20–70 years ago. This intermediary animal—not yet identified—passed it on to its first human host in the city of Wuhan in late November or early December 2019".[19]
On 29 January, financial news website and blog ZeroHedge suggested, without evidence, that a scientist at the WIV created the COVID-19 strain responsible for the coronavirus outbreak. Zerohedge listed the full contact details of the scientist supposedly responsible, a practice known as doxing, by including the scientist's name, photo and phone number, suggesting to readers that they "pay [the Chinese scientist] a visit" if they wanted to know "what really caused the coronavirus pandemic".[20] Twitter later permanently suspended the blog's account for violating its platform manipulation policy.[21] Zerohedge has since claimed the article did not claim the virus was human-made and that it only publicised publicly available details of the scientist.[22]
Logo of Umbrella Corporation
In January 2020, Buzzfeed News also reported on an internet meme/conspiracy theory of a link between the logo of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and "Umbrella Corporation", the agency that made the virus that starts the zombie apocalypse in the Resident Evil franchise. The theory also saw a link between "Racoon" (the main city in Resident Evil), and an anagram of "Corona" (the name of the virus).[23] The popularity of this theory attracted the attention of Snopes, who proved it as false showing that the logo was not from the Institute, but from Shanghai Ruilan Bao Hu San Biotech Limited, located approximately 500 miles (800 km) away in Shanghai and additionally pointed out that the proper name of the city in Resident Evil is Raccoon City.[23]
The Inverse reported that "Christopher Bouzy, the founder of Bot Sentinel, did a Twitter analysis for Inverse and found [online] bots and trollbots are making an array of false claims. These bots are claiming China intentionally created the virus, that it's a biological weapon, that Democrats are overstating the threat to hurt Donald Trump and more. While we can't confirm the origin of these bots, they are decidedly pro-Trump."[24]
Misinformation aside, concerns on accidental leakage by the WIV remain.[25] In 2017, U.S. molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright, expressed caution when the WIV was expanded to become mainland China's first biosafety level 4 (BSL–4) laboratory, noting previous escapes of the SARS virus at other Chinese laboratories.[26] While Ebright refuted several conspiracy theories regarding the WIV (e.g. bioweapons research, that the virus was engineered), he told BBC China that this did not represent the possibility of the virus being "completely ruled out" from entering the population due to a laboratory accident.[25] On 6 February, the White House asked scientists and medical researchers to rapidly investigate the origins of the virus in order to address both the current spread and "to inform future outbreak preparation and better understand animal/human and environmental transmission aspects of coronaviruses."[27]
Tobias Ellwood M.P. and Chairman of the British Defence Select Committee, also publicly questioned the role of the Chinese Army's Wuhan Institute for Biological Products and called for the "greater transparency over the origins of the coronavirus".[28]
South China Morning Post reported that one of the Institute's lead researchers, Shi Zhengli, was the particular focus of personal attacks in Chinese social media who alleged her work on bat-based viruses as the source of the virus, leading Shi to post: "I swear with my life, [the virus] has nothing to do with the lab", and when asked by the SCMP to comment on the attacks, Shi responded: "My time must be spent on more important matters".[29] Caixin reported Shi made further public statements against "perceived tinfoil-hat theories about the new virus's source", quoting her as saying: "The novel 2019 coronavirus is nature punishing the human race for keeping uncivilized living habits. I, Shi Zhengli, swear on my life that it has nothing to do with our laboratory".[30]
Far-right commentator Josh Bernstein claimed that the Democratic Party and the “medical deep state” were collaborating with the Chinese government to create and release the coronavirus in order to bring down Donald Trump. Bernstein went on to suggest that those responsible should be locked in a room with infected coronavirus patients as punishment. [31]
US biological weapon
On 3 March, US Senator Marco Rubio, member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Committee on Foreign Relations, claimed that "malign actors in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and elsewhere are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to sow chaos through conspiracy theories – most heinously, the notion that the United States created the disease".[32] He claimed that those states are "waging disinformation warfare over coronavirus", mirroring the charges of being victims of disinformation warfare presented by those states.[33][34][35]
Russian accusation
Further information: Cyberwarfare by Russia and Propaganda in the Russian Federation
On 22 February, US officials alleged that Russia is behind an ongoing disinformation campaign, using thousands of social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to deliberately promote unfounded conspiracy theories, claiming that the virus is a biological weapon manufactured by the CIA and the US is waging economic war on China using the virus.[36][37][38] The acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, Philip Reeker, said that "Russia's intent is to sow discord and undermine US institutions and alliances from within" and "by spreading disinformation about coronavirus, Russian malign actors are once again choosing to threaten public safety by distracting from the global health response".[36] Russia denies the allegation, saying "this is a deliberately false story".[39]
According to the US-based The National Interest magazine, although official Russian channels had been muted on pushing the US biowarfare conspiracy theory, other Russian media elements don't share the Kremlin's restraint.[40] Zvezda, a news outlet funded by the Russian Defense Ministry, published an article titled "Coronavirus: American biological warfare against Russia and China", claiming that the virus is intended to damage the Chinese economy, weakening its hand in the next round of trade negotiations.[40] Ultra-nationalist politician and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, claimed on a Moscow radio station that the virus was an experiment by the Pentagon and pharmaceutical companies. Politician Igor Nikulin made rounds on Russian television and news media, arguing that Wuhan was chosen for the attack because the presence of a BSL-4 virus lab provided a cover story for the Pentagon and CIA about a Chinese bio-experiment leak.[40]
Iranian accusation
According to Radio Farda, Iranian cleric Seyyed Mohammad Saeedi accused US President Donald Trump of targeting Qom with coronavirus "to damage its culture and honor." Saeedi claimed that "by targeting Qom, Trump is fulfilling his promise of hitting Iranian cultural sites if Iranians took revenge for the U.S. killing of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.[41]
Iranian researcher Ali Akbar Raefipour claimed that the coronavirus was part of a "hybrid warfare" programme waged by the United States on Iran and China.[42] His claims are reinforced in the Iranian public minds as 8% of their parliament have contracted Coronavirus
Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iranian Civil Defense Organization, claimed that the coronavirus is likely biological attack on China and Iran with economic goals.[43][34]
Hossein Salami, the head of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that the coronavirus outbreak in Iran may be due to a US "biological attack".[44]
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to the United Nation on 9 March, claiming that "it is clear to the world that the mutated coronavirus was produced in lab" and that COVID-19 is “a new weapon for establishing and/or maintaining political and economic upper hand in the global arena."[45]
Chinese accusation
According to London-based The Economist, conspiracy theories about COVID-19 being the CIA's creation to keep China down are all over the Chinese internet.[46] Although biological warfare against Chinese troops in the Korean war is only considered an allegation in US, it is considered official history in China, thus greatly helping these new theories gain credibility.[47]
Multiple conspiracy articles in Chinese from SARS-era resurfaced during the outbreak with altered details, claiming that SARS is biological warfare conducted by America against China. Some of these articles claim that BGI Group from China sold genetic information of the Chinese race to America, with America then being able to deploy the virus specifically targeting the gene of Chinese individuals.[48]
On 26 January, Chinese military news site Xilu published an article detailing how the virus was artificially combined by America to "precisely target Chinese people".[49] The article was removed after early February.
Some articles on popular sites in Chinese have also cast suspicion on US military athletes participating in the Wuhan 2019 Military World Games which lasted until the end of October 2019 to have deployed the virus. They claim the inattentive attitude and disproportionately below average results of American athletes in the game indicate they might have been in for other purposes and they might actually be bio-warfare operatives, and that their place of residence during their stay in Wuhan was also close to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the first known cluster of cases occurred.[50][47]
Arab world
According to Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Middle East Media Research Institute, numerous writers in the Arabic press have promoted the conspiracy theory that COVID-19, as well as SARS and the swine flu virus, were deliberately created and spread by the US to make a profit on selling vaccines against these diseases, and it is "part of an economic and psychological war waged by the U.S. against China with the aim of weakening it and presenting it as a backward country and a source of diseases".[51] Iraqi political analyst Sabah Al-Akili on Al-Etejah TV, Saudi daily Al-Watan writer Sa'ud Al-Shehry, Syrian daily Al-Thawra columnist Hussein Saqer, and Egyptian journalist Ahmad Rif'at on Egyptian news website Vetogate, were some examples given by MEMRI as the propagation of the US biowarfare conspiracy theory in the Arabic world.[51]
Philippines
Filipino Senator, Tito Sotto, played a bioweapon conspiracy video in a February Senate hearing, suggesting that the coronavirus is biowarfare waged against China.[32][52]
Zionist biological weapon
Iran's Press TV asserted that "Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of coronavirus against Iran".[53] Similarly, various Arab media outlets accused Israel and the United States of creating and spreading Covid-19, avian flu, and SARS.[54]
Spy operation
Some people have alleged that the coronavirus was stolen from a Canadian virus research lab by Chinese scientists, citing a news article by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in July 2019.[55] The CBC claimed their early report was distorted by misinformation, and that Eric Morrissette, chief of media relations for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada said that conspiracy theory had "no factual basis". Further, while the Chinese scientists had sent disease samples back to Beijing, neither sample sent during the 31 March 2019 transfer from Winnipeg, Canada to Beijing, China, was the current coronavirus. The current location of the missing Chinese researchers is confidential pending investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There is also no publicly available proof that the missing Chinese scientists were responsible for sending the pathogens to China.[56][57][58] In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, a senior research associate and expert in biological warfare with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, referring to a NATO press conference, identified suspicions of espionage as the reason behind the expulsions from the lab, but made no suggestion that coronavirus was taken from the Canadian lab or that it is the result of bioweapons defense research in China.[59]
Population control scheme
According to the BBC, Jordan Sather, a conspiracy theory YouTuber supporting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory and the anti-vax movement, has falsely claimed the outbreak was a population control scheme created by Pirbright Institute in England and by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.[1][60]
Sam Hyde
A hoax post on Facebook claimed that Sam Hyde, who is described as an international biological weapons terrorist, was behind the outbreak. Hyde, a comedian, had previously been blamed for over a dozen mass shootings as part of a long-running meme.[61]
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Baseless Conspiracy Theories Claim New Coronavirus Was Bioengineered - FactCheck.org
Several online stories inaccurately claim that the new coronavirus contains HIV “insertions” and shows signs of being created in a lab. But there is no evidence that the new virus was bioengineered, and every indication it came from an animal.
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The Great Coronavirus Panic of 2020
Wells Fargo in the hot seat, again — Oil prices plunge
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Isn't he the Hillsong Rapture guy?
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Yep, Scummo's con-artist mate….The very same loopy-looney Evangelical fundy giving us all a spiel on 'Kooky Conspiracy theories'.
I've seen it all now.
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"Corona virus is bogus for real"
Anthony Mundine
I don't know if he's been punched in the head too many times or not enough.
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I don't know if he's been punched in the head too many times or not enough.
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So it only seems to be adults who are affected, not kids, including the elderly. Who are the people that get the annual flu vaccine? Almost all old people and some adults. There’s another conspiracy theory for ya!
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Just think of all the money our governments are going to save on pensions now…..Oh wait.
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There has to be some untold thing going on. Kept hush. For such a global crisis, nations in lockdown and events/leagues canceled. Over a mere strain of flu, doesnt compute. Maybe there is something to this. A man-made strain by USA released into Wuhan to blame Wuhan and ruin China. Maybe. An experiment in Wuhan that got out accidentally. Maybe. Something man-made/bioweapon. For such a global reaction to a mere flu doesnt make sense. But if authorities have been secretly informing companies, govts, leagues, of a man-made bio-danger, then ok that computes.
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Mundine is dumb as dog-shit.
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Definitely that it’s man made although the reasons for it I’m not sure. Depopulation, vaccination $$, bio-chemical warfare, economy crash etc. It could be anything.
this is one of the few topics in this forum that I believe could be a very plausible theory
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JFK surely too? MKULTRA already been admitted. Surely a few more
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This theory makes even more sense...
Iran, who have been ostracized, were dealing with China and Italy to develop a bioweapon (a deadly flu-like respiratory disease that can be hidden as a common cold) against American interests. At the Wuhan lab, but there was a demonstration of the weapon in the snowy hills of Italy, with a lot of Iranian politicians attending. Something went wrong in the demonstration. Why Italy is so badly infected, why Iran and China also infected so badly. Why the Iranian politicians were infected. The real death toll in Iran and China being kept secret.
So basically, it backfired on these countries.
Iran, who have been ostracized, were dealing with China and Italy to develop a bioweapon (a deadly flu-like respiratory disease that can be hidden as a common cold) against American interests. At the Wuhan lab, but there was a demonstration of the weapon in the snowy hills of Italy, with a lot of Iranian politicians attending. Something went wrong in the demonstration. Why Italy is so badly infected, why Iran and China also infected so badly. Why the Iranian politicians were infected. The real death toll in Iran and China being kept secret.
So basically, it backfired on these countries.
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They don't come any more obvious than 9/11 my man.
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Think of the Billions$$$$ our governments will save on pensions for starters GG....More $$$ for bombs.
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Estimated 50m will die globally
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I don't reckon it'll reach those figures, but A 4% mortality rate is looking rather ominous....That's worse than the Spanish Flu for starters.
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You're assuming that everyone's going to contract it though.....that's seldom the case.
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