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