Venezuela and the Great Social Media Myth of a Man-Made Virus

This article is part of IranWire's ongoing coverage of Covid-19 disinformation in different countries, in partnership with Health Studio.

By Ximena Herrera for Health Studio

A year ago, the world was confronted for the first time by a new, unknown disease. And as the first cases of what would come to be called Covid-19 began to appear outside of China, a new wave of conspiracy theories began to spread across the globe.

Hugo Pérez Hernáiz, a sociologist and author of the Venezuela Conspiracy Theories Monitor blog, told Health Studio that he describes these as “grand conspiracy theories”: those categorized by claims that “powerful agents” are responsible for unexplained events like the pandemic.

 

Blaming the Chinese government

One theory that has reverberated around networks in Venezuela argues that the virus was created in a Chinese government laboratory. Although the origins of the virus are still under investigation, scientists have dismissed the unevidenced idea it could be man-made as false.

As Pérez Hernáiz explains: “These theories are relevant because they offer certainty: very simple explanations to complex events that are difficult to understand. [They allow us] to point out a culprit, to give a personal character to a complicated situation.”

He adds: “By saying that the virus is created by the Chinese, [you can claim] there is a person behind this.”

This theory, which has been described as “extremely unlikely” by the World Health Organization (WHO), is likely to have also gathered steam worldwide due to confusing statements made by political figures like former US President Donald Trump. Trump suggested at numerous press conferences last year that the virus had leaked out from a lab in Wuhan, without offering further details to explain or evidence his statements.

Interviews with health professionals show how widely claims that the virus was made in a lab have taken root in Venezuela. At the end of 2020, pharmacist Ana Carlota Herrera told Health Studio that patients tell her every day that “the Chinese created this to take control of the world”, “the Chinese created this to harm the US”, or even that “China created this to sell the vaccine and become the world’s greatest power”. Herrera tells Health Studio: “I believe that 90 percent of my patients [think Covid-19] is China’s fault.”

Spreading fake news on social media

It is also very common to see posts on Venezuelan social media that call SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) the “Chinese virus”: a name that can reinforce such assumptions.

Tweet reads: “It seems plausible that the “Chinese Virus” was a strategy to promote “vote by mail” and make the biggest fraud in the history of mankind. I think the “Progre” are capable of anything. They forged the coup to the best US president since Lincoln. @POTUS @trish_regan”

The popular Venezuelan influencer Juan C. Sosa Azpúrua helped spread a similar “grand conspiracy”. During the US elections, he baselessly claimed on Twitter that the virus was created as part of a strategy to promote postal voting thus enabling the “largest electoral fraud in the history of mankind” to oust Trump, the incumbent candidate.

Research shows that voter fraud, whether in person or by mail, is incredibly rare. As experts from the Brennan Center for Social Justice noted last year: “It is...more likely for an American to be struck by lightning than to commit mail voting fraud.” Claims that last year’s US election saw significant amounts of fraud have also been thoroughly debunked.

But even though the message was incorrect, it’s likely Sosa Azpúrua’s tweet has made an impression on many. He is a self-described educator with some 346,100 followers on Twitter.

A particularly worrying effect of conspiracy theories that target China is the fact they can lead to racism towards East Asian communities. Verbal and physical attacks on Asian people have been reported around the world since the start of the pandemic.

Some people from Asian backgrounds have protested against coronavirus-related discrimination online. A Korean-Venezuelan influencer known as “Maisongtv”, for example, joined the “I am not a virus” social media campaign after receiving threats and insults “for the simple fact of being Asian”. He called for an end to hatred, resentfulness and xenophobia.

Instagram post reads: “#NoSoyUnVirus. I am fed up, tired of reading and receiving insults, threats and insults from people who do not even follow me, for the simple fact of being Asian, it is not fair. I ask all of you my followers and all my influencer friends to support me in this campaign just as I have unconditionally supported you for any campaign. Enough of so much hatred, resentment and xenophobia. Yesterday it was you, today it is us!”

Various scientists and institutions have repeatedly denied that SARS-CoV-2 could have been made by the Chinese government. Luis Enjuanes, a virologist at the Spanish National Center for Biotechnology (CSIC) and professor at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, for example, has explained that the virus could not have been created in a laboratory. The US intelligence service has also said that it could not have been manmade.

Hugo Pérez Hernáiz explains that “grand conspiracy theories” – like the myth that the virus was created in and released from a Chinese laboratory – can have wide-ranging impacts on society. He says these conspiracy theories can become a weapon for governments and other influential people. By presenting powerful agents as the cause of unexplained events, leaders can position themselves as the only ones with the ability to stop them. Such tactics have been used historically by authoritarian governments like the Nazis in Germany. Pérez Hernáiz says they can be used to depoliticise and silence societies by creating an enemy on whom all ills can be blamed.