With the recent increase in Coronavirus cases, it is easy for Internet users to read and believe whatever is posted online. A conspiracy promoter named Zero Hedge took advantage of the situation on Twitter by sharing an unverified story, leading the social media to ban the account.
“Something tells us, if anyone wants to find out what really caused the coronavirus pandemic that has infected thousands of people in China and around the globe, they should probably pay [the scientist] a visit,” said the site. The author even revealed the scientist’s name, photo, email and phone number in the article.
In the article, the author talked about how the scientist is working at Wuhan Institute of Virology and has been studying the relationship between bats and their immunity towards coronavirus. The scientist had also been genetically engineering different immune pathways that can lead to the creation of a highly resistant mutant superbug which cannot be resistant to any natural immune pathway — even the bats’.
While the author is obviously trying to accuse that China is trying to use the coronavirus as a bioweapon, Brandon J. Brown, an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside told BuzzFeed News that it’s logical for the Wuhan Institute of Virology to be doing research about the coronavirus in bats.
Brown pointed out that the immune research can actually be useful in preventing the spread of the virus, in addition to the fact that the fatality rate of the virus is only 200/10,000 — a rating that doesn’t suffice for a “good” bioweapon.
Zero Hedge’s Twitter account was suspended soon after the publication of the scientist’s information, under the violation of platform manipulation policy.
