“Disease
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The fake news, particularly that attributing an elitist conspiracy to create an unknown pathogen aimed at depopulating the planet, appears to originate in the United States but has spread to Asia in many regional languages, according to fact-checkers at the AFP.
Rapidly spreading misinformation, which experts say illustrates the dangers of poor content moderation on social media, could increase distrust in vaccines and undermine preparedness for public health emergencies, four years after the appearance of the Covid-19 pandemic.
By stoking fears about disease evidence.
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“The spreaders of false information are trying to exploit this conspiracy theory to sell products,” Timothy Caulfield, of the University of Alberta, in Canada, told AFP.
“It’s often their main source of income. The conflict is deep. Without the fear-mongering and evidence-free talk about vaccines and government conspiracies, there would be little or no profit,” he adds.
Conspiracy theories proliferated after the World Economic Forum in Davos – which still sparks misinformation – held a panel in January titled “Preparing for Disease X,” focused on a possible future pandemic.
To sell products
Alex Jones, the founder of the site InfoWars who made millions of dollars spreading conspiracy theories about mass shootings and Covid-19, claimed on social media that there was a global plan to deploy Disease X as a “weapon of genocidal death.”
When the conspiracy spread to China, messages shared on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) claimed that the Chinese government was setting up mobile crematoriums to deal with “mass deaths.”
But through reverse image search, AFP fact-checkers discovered that the videos in these posts actually showed animal cremation services.
In October, AFP fact-checkers debunked online posts in Malaysia that claimed nurses were being forced to be injected with a vaccine against Disease X, which does not exist.
American cardiologist Peter McCullough, known for spreading misinformation about Covid-19, claimed without providing evidence that Disease X “should be created in a biological laboratory”.
He made the statement on the website of The Wellness Company, a US-based dietary supplement supplier, of which he is the chief scientific officer.
Urging people to “be prepared” for disease -19.
The Gateway Pundit, a right-wing website known for spreading conspiracy theories, also promoted the kits in a sponsored post titled “Disease X: Are the globalists planning another pandemic?”
“Don’t be caught off guard,” the message said, linking to a link to order the kits.
Misinformation not questioned
“Spreading conspiracy theories to make money is a long-established practice on the right,” Julie Millican, vice-president of the left-wing media monitoring organization Media Matters, told AFP.
“Those most likely to spread conspiracy theories about topics like Disease she explains.
Neither Wellness Company nor Gateway Pundit responded to AFP’s requests.
Much erroneous information goes unchallenged, because platforms such as X, in search of savings, have slashed the staff responsible for monitoring the security and reliability of their content.
Conspiracy theories draw on growing vaccine hesitancy since the Covid-19 pandemic, which is likely to have “considerable” effects on public health, said Jennifer Reich, a sociologist at the University of Colorado Denver.
“Since Covid, we have seen less acceptance of vaccines for children and increasing approval, in polls, of the right to refuse to vaccinate your children,” Ms. Reich told AFP.
Some followers of conspiracies born around disease
“Misinformation can also lead some segments of the population to take ineffective or even harmful actions during an outbreak,” Chunhuei Chi, professor of global health at Oregon State University, told AFP.
“This can become a major obstacle for a society that wants to be proactive in preventing and preparing for an emerging contagious disease,” he said.
