15 March, 2020

COVID-19 disinformation

A lot of actors cashing in on the epidemic

   The virus spreads around the world, along with a bunch of
   disinformation and potential malware / phishing campaigns. There are
   many actors, pushing many narratives -- some similar, some different.

   Interestingly, the three big players in the information warfare space
   -- Russia, Iran and China seem to be running similar stories on their
   state-backed media outlets. While they all tend to lean towards the
   same, fairly anti-U.S. sentiments -- that is, blaming the US for
   weaponizing the crisis for political gain -- Iran and Russia's content
   come off as more...conspiratorial. In essence, they claim that the
   COVID-19 virus is a "bioweapon" developed by the U.S.

   Russian news agency [1]RT tweeted:

     Show of hands, who isn't going to be surprised if it ever gets
     revealed that #coronavirus is a bioweapon?

   RT also published [2]an article mocking the U.S. for concerns over
   Russian disinformation. Another article by RT, [3]an op-ed suggests the
   virus' impact on financial markets might bring about the reinvention of
   communism and the end of the global capitalist system. Russian
   state-sponsored media can also be seen amplifying Iranian conspiracy
   theories -- including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC)
   suggestion that COVID-19 [4]is a U.S. bioweapon.

   Iranian media outlets appear to be running stories having similar
   themese, as well. Here's one [5]by PressTV, where they very boldly
   claim that the virus was developed by the U.S. and/or Isreal, to use as
   a bioweapon against Iran. Another [6]nonsensical piece by PressTV
   suggests that "there are components of the virus that are related to
   HIV that could not have occurred naturally". The same article pushes
   another theory:

     There has been some speculation that as the Trump Administration has
     been constantly raising the issue of growing Chinese global
     competitiveness as a direct threat to American national security and
     economic dominance, it might be possible that Washington has created
     and unleashed the virus in a bid to bring Beijing's growing economy
     and military might down a few notches. It is, to be sure, hard to
     believe that even the Trump White House would do something so
     reckless, but there are precedents for that type of behavior

   These "theories", as is evident, are getting wilder and wilder.

   Unsurprisingly, China produces the most amount of content related to
   the coronavirus, but they're quite distinct in comparison to Russian
   and Iranian media. The general theme behind Chinese narratives is
   critisizing the West for...a lot of things.

   Global Times claims that [7]democracy is an insufficient system to
   battle the coronavirus. They [8]blame the U.S. for unfair media
   coverage against China, and other [9]anti-China narratives. There are a
   ton other articles that play the racism/discrimination card -- I
   wouldn't blame them though. [10]Here's one.

   In the case of India, most disinfo (actually, misinfo) is mostly just
   pseudoscientific / alternative medicine / cures in the form of WhatsApp
   forwards -- "Eat foo! Eat bar!".^[11]1

   I've also been noticing a ton of COVID-19 / coronavirus related domain
   registrations happening. Expect phishing and malware campaigns using
   the virus as a theme. In the past 24 hrs, ~450 .com domains alone were
   registered.

   corona domains

   Anywho, there are bigger problems at hand -- like the fact that my uni
   still hasn't suspended classes!
     __________________________________________________________________

    1. [12]https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-group-hosts-
       cow-urine-party-says-covid-19-due-to-meat-eaters/article31070516.ec
       e

References

   1. https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1233187558793924608
   2. https://www.rt.com/usa/481485-coronavirus-russia-state-department/
   3. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/481831-coronavirus-kill-bill-capitalism-communism/
   4. https://www.rt.com/news/482405-iran-coronavirus-us-biological-weapon/
   5. https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620217/US-coronavirus-James-Henry-Fetzer
   6. https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620213/Coronavirus-was-produced-in-a-laboratory
   7. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml
   8. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml
   9. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1180630.shtml
  10. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178465.shtml
  11. https://icyphox.sh/home/icy/leet/site/build/blog/covid19-disinfo/temp.html#fn:cowpiss
  12. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-group-hosts-cow-urine-party-says-covid-19-due-to-meat-eaters/article31070516.ece