As the coronavirus
spread across the globe, so too did speculation about its origins.
Perhaps the virus escaped from a lab. Maybe it was engineered as a
bioweapon.
Legitimate questions about the virus created perfect
conditions for conspiracy theories. In the absence of knowledge,
guesswork and propaganda flourished.
College professors with no
evidence or training in virology were touted as experts. Anonymous
social media users posed as high-level intelligence officials. And from
China to Iran to Russia to the United States, governments amplified
claims for their own motives.
The Associated Press collaborated
with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab on a
nine-month investigation to identify the people and organisations behind
some of the most viral misinformation about the origins of the
coronavirus.
Their claims were explosive. Their evidence was weak. These are the superspreaders.
Francis Boyle
Who is he?
A
Harvard trained law professor at the University of Illinois, Mr. Boyle
drafted a 1989 law banning biological weapons and has advised the nation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Palestinian Authority.
Mr.
Boyle has no academic degree in virology or biology but is a
long-standing critic of research on pathogens. He has claimed Israeli
intelligence was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; that
SARS, the swine flu and Ebola have been genetically modified; and that
West Nile virus and Lyme disease escaped from a U.S. bio-warfare lab. He
has also claimed that Microsoft founder Bill Gates “was involved” in
the spread of Zika.
COVID-19 claim
Mr.
Boyle says the coronavirus is a genetically engineered bio-weapon that
escaped from a high-level lab in Wuhan, China. He maintains it shows
signs of nanotechnological tinkering and the insertion of proteins from
HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus. He alleges that U.S. researchers
helped create it, and that thousands of doctors, scientists, and elected
leaders are conspiring to hide the truth.
Mr. Boyle promoted his
claim in an email to a list of news organisations and personal contacts
on January 24, 2020. That same day, he was interviewed on a podcast
called Geopolitics and Empire. That podcast was cited by a little-known Indian website, GreatGameIndia,
and went viral, with Mr. Boyle’s comments picked up and featured in
Iranian-state TV, Russian state media, and fringe websites in the U.S.
and around the world. He’s since repeated his claims on Alex Jones’ show
Infowars.
Evidence?
Mr. Boyle
bases his argument on circumstantial evidence: the presence of a
Biosafety Level 4 lab in Wuhan, the fact that other viruses have escaped
from other labs in the past, and his belief that governments around the
world are engaged in a secret arms race over biological weapons.
Biosafety Level 4 labs — or BSL4 labs — have the highest level of bio-safety precautions.
“It seemed to me that obviously, this came out of the Wuhan BSL 4,” Mr. Boyle told The Associated Press, dismissing the accepted explanation that the virus emerged from the Wuhan market as “completely preposterous.”
A
World Heath Organisation team concluded it was extremely unlikely the
virus escaped from the Wuhan lab, and other experts have said the virus
shows no signs of genetic manipulation.
GreatGameIndia
What is it?
A website that was an early promoter of the theory that the coronavirus was engineered.
Its
January 26, 2020, story on ‘Coronavirus bioweapon-How China Stole the
Coronavirus From Canada and Weaponised It’ was picked up by far-right
financial blog Zero Hedge and shared to thousands of social media users before it was promoted by conservative website RedStateWatcher and received more than 6 million engagements.
COVID Claim:
GreatGameIndia
claims that the virus, which has now killed more than 2 million people
worldwide, was first found in the lungs of a Saudi man and then sent to
labs in the Netherlands and then Canada, where it was stolen by Chinese
scientists. The article relies in part on speculation from Dany Shoham, a
virologist and former lieutenant colonel in Israeli military
intelligence.
Mr. Shoham was quoted discussing the possibility
that COVID is linked to bio-weapon research in a January 26, 2020,
article in the conservative U.S. newspaper The Washington Times.
In that article, Mr. Shoham was quoted saying there was no evidence to
support the idea that the virus has escaped from a lab, but GreatGameIndia did not include that context in its piece.
“We
do stand by our report,” said website co-founder Shelley Kasli wrote in
an email. “In fact, recently Canadians released documents which
corroborated our findings with Chinese scientists... A lot of
information is still classified.”
Evidence?
The
coronavirus most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an
animal, a World Health Organisation panel announced this month, saying
an alternate theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab was
unlikely.
America’s top scientists have likewise concluded the
virus is of natural origin, citing clues in its genome and its
similarity to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. Vincent
Racaniello, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia
University, who has been studying the virus since its genome was first
recorded, has said it is clear that the virus was not engineered or
accidentally released.
“It is something that is clearly selected
in nature,” Mr. Racaniello said. “There are two examples where the
sequence tells us that humans had no hand in making this virus because
they would not have known to do these things.”
The Centre for Research on Globalisation
What is it?
The
Montreal-based centre publishes articles on global politics and policy,
including a healthy dose of conspiracy theories on vaccines and the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It’s led by Michel Chossudovsky, a
professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa and a
conspiracy theorist who has argued the U.S. military can control the
weather.
The centre publishes authors from around the world — many
of whom have advanced baseless claims about the origins of the
outbreak. In February, for instance, the center published an interview
with Igor Nikulin suggesting the coronavirus was a U.S. bio-weapon
created to target Chinese people.
The centre’s website,
globalresearch.ca., “has become deeply enmeshed in Russia’s broader
disinformation and propaganda ecosystem” by peddling anti-U.S.
conspiracy theories, according to a 2020 U.S. State Department report
which found that seven of its supposed writers do not even exist but
were created by Russian military intelligence.
COVID Claim
While
the centre has published several articles about the virus, one
suggesting it originated in the U.S. caught the attention of top Chinese
officials.
On March 12, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Zhao Lijian retweeted an article published by the centre titled:
‘China’s Coronavirus: A Shocking Update. Did The Virus Originate in the
US?’
“This article is very much important to each and every one of
us,” he posted in English on Twitter. “Please read and retweet it.
COVID-19: Further Evidence that the Virus Originated in the US.”
He
also tweeted: “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.
Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation.”
The
story by Larry Romanoff, a regular author at the centre, cites several
debunked theories, including one that members of the U.S. military
brought the virus to China during the Military World Games in fall 2019.
Mr. Romanoff concludes that it has now “been proven” that the virus
originated from outside of China, despite scientific consensus that it
did.
Evidence?
The World Health
Organisation has concluded that the coronavirus emerged in China, where
the first cases and deaths were reported. No evidence has surfaced to
suggest the virus was imported into China by the U.S.
Mr.
Chossudovsky and Mr. Romanoff did not respond to repeated messages
seeking comment. Mr. Romanoff’s biography lists him as a visiting
professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, but he is not listed among
the university’s faculty. The university did not respond to an email
asking about Mr. Romanoff’s employment.
Mr. Romanoff’s original article was taken down in the spring, but Mr. Zhao’s tweet remains up.
Igor Nikulin
Who is he?
A
four-time failed political candidate, Mr. Nikulin is prominently quoted
in Russian state media and fringe publications in the west as a
biologist and former weapons inspector in Iraq who served on a U.N.
commission on biological and chemical weapons in the 1990s.
COVID Claim
Mr.
Nikulin argues the U.S. created the virus and used it to attack China.
He first voiced the belief in a January 20, 2020, story by Zvezda,
a state media outlet tied to the Russian military. He appeared on
Russian state TV at least 18 times between January 27, 2020, and late
April of that year.
Once the virus reached the U.S., Mr. Nikulin
changed his theory, saying “globalists” were using the virus to
depopulate the earth.
Mr. Nikulin has expressed support for
weaponising misinformation to hurt the U.S. in the past. On his website,
he suggests claiming the U.S. created HIV as a way to weaken America
from within. Russian intelligence mounted a similar 1980s disinformation
campaign dubbed “Operation INFEKTION.”
“If you prove and
declare... that the virus was bred in American laboratories, the
American economy will collapse under the onslaught of billions of
lawsuits by millions of AIDS carriers around the world,” Mr. Nikulin
wrote on his website.
Evidence?
Mr. Nikulin offered no evidence to support his assertions, and there are reasons to doubt his veracity.
Former
U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler, for whom Mr. Nikulin claims to
have worked, said he had no memory of Mr. Nikulin, and that his story
sounded “sloppily fabricated, and not credible.”
No U.N. records could be found to confirm his employment.
In an exchange with the AP
over Facebook, Mr. Nikulin insisted his claims and background are
accurate, though he said some records from U.N. work were destroyed in
an American bombing during the Iraq invasion.
When told that Mr. Butler didn't know him, Mr. Nikulin responded “This is his opinion.”
Greg Rubini
Who is he?
Greg
Rubini is the name of an internet conspiracy theorist who claims to
have high-level contacts in intelligence and listed his location on
Twitter as “classified,” until he was kicked off the platform. His posts
have been retweeted thousands of times by supporters of QAnon, a
conspiracy theory centered on the baseless belief that former U.S.
President Donald Trump is waging a secret campaign against enemies in
the “deep state” and a secret sect of satanic pedophiles and cannibals.
COVID Claim
Mr.
Rubini has tweeted that Dr. Anthony Fauci created the coronavirus and
that it was used as a bio-weapon to reduce the world’s population and
undermine Mr. Trump.
Evidence?
Mr. Rubini doesn’t appear to be the intelligence insider that he pretends to be.
Buzzfeed
attempted to track down Mr. Rubini last year and determined it is the
alias of a 61-year-old Italian man who has worked in marketing and music
promotions. A previous version of his Twitter bio indicates he is a fan
of classic rock and the films of Stanley Kubrick.
Attempts to reach Mr. Rubini online and through business contacts were unsuccessful.
Mr.
Rubini has bristled at efforts to verify his claims. When a social
media user asked: “My question to you @GregRubini is, ‘Where and what is
your proof?’ Mr. Rubini responded curtly: “And my question is: why
should I give it to you?”
Twitter suspended Mr. Rubini’s account in November 2020 for repeated violations of its policies.
Kevin Barrett
Who is he?
A
former lecturer on Islam at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mr.
Barrett left the university amid criticism for his claims that the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were orchestrated by people linked
to the U.S. and Israeli governments.
Mr. Barrett calls himself “a
professional conspiracy theorist, for want of a better term” and has
argued government conspiracies were behind the 2004 Madrid bombing, the
2005 London bombing, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the 2016
Orlando nightclub shooting.
COVID Claim
Mr.
Barrett said he is “80%” sure coronavirus was created by elements
within the U.S. government as a bio-weapon and used to attack China.
Iran was a secondary target, he has argued. Writing for Iran’s PressTV,
he said the early outbreak in that country “suggests that the Americans
and/or their partners the Israelis... may have deliberately attacked
Iran.”
Mr. Barrett further detailed his views during an interview with the AP.
“It
seemed fairly obvious to me that the first hypothesis one would look at
when something as extraordinary as this COVID pandemic hits, is that it
would be a U.S. bio-war strike,” he said.
Evidence?
Mr.
Barrett cited reports that the U.S. warned its allies in November 2019
about a dangerous virus emerging from China. Mr. Barrett said that’s
long before authorities in China knew about the severity of the
outbreak.
Official sources have denied issuing any warning. If the
U.S. did know about the virus that soon, it was likely thanks to
intelligence sources within China, which may have known about the virus
as early as November 2019, according to former Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo.
Luc Montagnier
Who is he?
Mr. Montagnier is a world-renowned virologist who won the Nobel prize in 2008 for discovering HIV.
COVID Claim
During an April interview with the French news channel CNews,
Mr. Montagnier claimed that the coronavirus did not originate in nature
and was manipulated. Mr. Montagnier said that in the process of making
the vaccine for AIDS, someone took the genetic material and added it to
the coronavirus. Mr. Montagnier cites a retracted paper published in
January from Indian scientists who had said they had found sequences of
HIV in the coronavirus. AP made multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr. Montagnier.
Evidence
Experts
who have looked at the genome sequence of the virus have said it has no
HIV-1 sequences. In January, Indian scientists published a paper on
bioRXIV, a repository for scientific papers that have not yet been
peer-reviewed or published in a traditional scientific journal. The
paper said that the scientists had found “uncanny similarity of unique
inserts” in COVID-19 and HIV. Social media users picked up the paper as
proof that the virus was engineered. As soon as it was published, the
scientific community widely debunked the paper on social media. It was
later withdrawn.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Hossein Salami
Who are they?
Mr.
Khamenei is the second and current Supreme Leader of the Islamic
Republic of Iran. He has the final say on all matters of state,
including the economy, military and health divisions.
Since being
elected to office in 1981, Mr. Khamenei has maintained his skeptical
view of the U.S. as Iran’s foremost enemy. The tensions between the two
countries boiled over in 2018 when Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the
Iran nuclear deal and reimposed crippling sanctions. At the time, Mr.
Khamenei remarked, “I said from the first day: Don’t trust America.”
Hossein
Salami was appointed by Khamenei as commander of Iran’s Revolutionary
Guard in April 2019. He leads the country’s paramilitary force that
oversees Iran’s ballistic missile program and responds to threats from
both inside and outside the country.
COVID Claim
Mr.
Salami declared on March 5, 2020, that Iran was engaged in a fight
against a virus that might be the product of an American biological
attack. On those grounds, Mr. Salami ordered a Ground Force Biological
Defense Maneuver to test the country’s ability to combat a biological
attack. Beginning March 16, the Ground Force, in close collaboration
with the Health Ministry, began holding nationwide bio-defense drills.
Mr.
Khamenei was among the first and most powerful world leaders to suggest
the coronavirus could be a biological weapon created by the U.S. During
his annual address on March 22 to millions of Iranians for the Persian
New Year, Khamenei questioned why the U.S. would offer aid to countries
like Iran if they themselves were suffering and accused of making the
virus.
Mr. Khamenei went on to refuse U.S. assistance, saying
“possibly (U.S.) medicine is a way to spread the virus more.” Last
month, he refused to accept coronavirus vaccines manufactured in Britain
and the U.S., calling them “forbidden.” The Iranian Mission to the
United Nations in New York did not respond to multiple requests for
comment.
Evidence
There is no evidence that the U.S. created the virus or used it as a weapon to attack Iran.
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