1---
 2date: '2020-03-15'
 3subtitle: A lot of actors cashing in on the epidemic
 4title: 'COVID-19 disinformation'
 5url: 'covid19-disinfo'
 6---
 7
 8The virus spreads around the world, along with a bunch of disinformation
 9and potential malware / phishing campaigns. There are many actors,
10pushing many narratives---some similar, some different.
11
12Interestingly, the three big players in the information warfare
13space---Russia, Iran and China seem to be running similar stories on
14their state-backed media outlets. While they all tend to lean towards
15the same, fairly anti-U.S. sentiments---that is, blaming the US for
16weaponizing the crisis for political gain---Iran and Russia's content
17come off as more...conspiratorial. In essence, they claim that the
18COVID-19 virus is a "bioweapon" developed by the U.S.
19
20Russian news agency [RT
21tweeted](https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1233187558793924608):
22
23> Show of hands, who isn't going to be surprised if it ever gets
24> revealed that \#coronavirus is a bioweapon?
25
26RT also published [an
27article](https://www.rt.com/usa/481485-coronavirus-russia-state-department/)
28mocking the U.S. for concerns over Russian disinformation. Another
29article by RT, [an
30op-ed](https://www.rt.com/op-ed/481831-coronavirus-kill-bill-capitalism-communism/)
31suggests the virus' impact on financial markets might bring about the
32reinvention of communism and the end of the global capitalist system.
33Russian state-sponsored media can also be seen amplifying Iranian
34conspiracy theories---including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps'
35(IRGC) suggestion that COVID-19 [is a U.S.
36bioweapon](https://www.rt.com/news/482405-iran-coronavirus-us-biological-weapon/).
37
38Iranian media outlets appear to be running stories having similar
39themese, as well. Here's one [by
40PressTV](https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620217/US-coronavirus-James-Henry-Fetzer),
41where they very boldly claim that the virus was developed by the U.S.
42and/or Isreal, to use as a bioweapon against Iran. Another [nonsensical
43piece](https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620213/Coronavirus-was-produced-in-a-laboratory)
44by PressTV suggests that "there are components of the virus that are
45related to HIV that could not have occurred naturally". The same article
46pushes another theory:
47
48> There has been some speculation that as the Trump Administration has
49> been constantly raising the issue of growing Chinese global
50> competitiveness as a direct threat to American national security and
51> economic dominance, it might be possible that Washington has created
52> and unleashed the virus in a bid to bring Beijing's growing economy
53> and military might down a few notches. It is, to be sure, hard to
54> believe that even the Trump White House would do something so
55> reckless, but there are precedents for that type of behavior
56
57These "theories", as is evident, are getting wilder and wilder.
58
59Unsurprisingly, China produces the most amount of content related to the
60coronavirus, but they're quite distinct in comparison to Russian and
61Iranian media. The general theme behind Chinese narratives is
62critisizing the West for...a lot of things.
63
64Global Times claims that [democracy is an insufficient
65system](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml) to battle the
66coronavirus. They [blame the
67U.S.](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml) for unfair media
68coverage against China, and other [anti-China
69narratives](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1180630.shtml). There are
70a ton other articles that play the racism/discrimination card---I
71wouldn't blame them though. [Here's
72one](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178465.shtml).
73
74In the case of India, most disinfo (actually, misinfo) is mostly just
75pseudoscientific / alternative medicine / cures in the form of WhatsApp
76forwards---"Eat foo! Eat bar!".[^1]
77
78I've also been noticing a *ton* of COVID-19 / coronavirus related domain
79registrations happening. Expect phishing and malware campaigns using the
80virus as a theme. In the past 24 hrs, \~450 `.com` domains alone were
81registered.
82
83![corona domains](/static/img/corona_domains.png)
84
85Anywho, there are bigger problems at hand---like the fact that my uni
86still hasn't suspended classes!
87
88[^1]: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-group-hosts-cow-urine-party-says-covid-19-due-to-meat-eaters/article31070516.ece