“Sadly most Chinese people really believe the U.S. brought the virus to China and they call it ‘USA virus,’” Lucy, a 45-year-old Chinese American who recently returned to China to take care of her parents, told VICE News. “The CCP’s anti-American propaganda is very successful.”
The ‘USA virus’
Conspiracy theories around the origin of the coronavirus are not unique to China. We have seen everyone from celebrities sharing a video claiming Bill Gates created the coronavirus to Sen. Tom Cotton claiming the disease was deliberately created in a virology lab in Wuhan.
But what is unique to China is the inability for most citizens in the country to fact-check the claims being made by official CCP outlets, or to seek any independent information outside China’s Great Firewall, which blocks access to most western news outlets and other sources of information, such as Google and Wikipedia. Chinese citizens are fully aware that their government censors criticism of Beijing on WeChat and Weibo while pushing messages that portray it in a positive light. They’re also aware of the consequences for challenging that or for seeking outside information.
“When the government spreads disinformation about other countries and blocks counter-narratives, it is much easier for people to buy into government’s narratives because you just don’t have access to alternative sources of information,” Yaqui Wang, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, told VICE News. And when it comes to claims about the U.S. Chinese people have been conditioned to believe the worst.
Viral on WeChat
According to Zhang, the conspiracy theory was shared in multiple WeChat groups they were in, and in such a way that it looked like a coordinated effort.
The CCP has a huge amount of control over how WeChat operates and has already shown its willingness to use that power to control the coronavirus narrative. It has banned WeChat users inside the country who have shared anything vaguely negative about the government’s response to coronavirus, it has silenced overseas WeChat users without their knowledge, and it has ramped up the level of censorship on the topic of coronavirus as the epidemic escalated. The fact China has not banned this topic from being discussed on WeChat shows that it is happy for it to continue to be disseminated.
Origins of a conspiracy theory
Research published this week by the Stanford Internet Observatory shows that the seeds of the conspiracy go back at least to January, when news of the virus in Wuhan. It is unclear when the conspiracy theory was first floated or by whom, but it had gained enough traction by the turn of the year that on Jan. 2, a Chinese-language YouTube channel shared a video dismissing the idea that the pneumonia in Wuhan was the result of U.S. genetic warfare.
It was around this time that whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang tried to warn friends about a growing pneumonia-like virus spreading in his hospital in Wuhan — before the government silenced him...Then, in March, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian gave the conspiracy the CCP’s seal of approval, tweeting that “It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.”
“Propaganda like this largely serves the leadership's interests in that it takes attention away from other problems in China,” one of the co-founders of GreatFire.org, an organization that tracks China’s online censorship, told VICE News, using the pseudonym Charlie Smith. “You — and many of your peers — are covering this story now instead of covering other, more truthful, and likely hurtful, stories. It's a waste of everyone's time except The Party's.”
注：我不认识这记者，网上受委托来论坛帮着问一下，没任何利益往来，发以上这个帖子甚至还因此被论坛的某些人不待见。
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wxe9yq/the-chinese-government-has-convinced-its-citizens-that-the-us-army-brought-coronavirus-to-wuhan
“Sadly most Chinese people really believe the U.S. brought the virus to China and they call it ‘USA virus,’” Lucy, a 45-year-old Chinese American who recently returned to China to take care of her parents, told VICE News. “The CCP’s anti-American propaganda is very successful.”
The ‘USA virus’
Conspiracy theories around the origin of the coronavirus are not unique to China. We have seen everyone from celebrities sharing a video claiming Bill Gates created the coronavirus to Sen. Tom Cotton claiming the disease was deliberately created in a virology lab in Wuhan.
But what is unique to China is the inability for most citizens in the country to fact-check the claims being made by official CCP outlets, or to seek any independent information outside China’s Great Firewall, which blocks access to most western news outlets and other sources of information, such as Google and Wikipedia. Chinese citizens are fully aware that their government censors criticism of Beijing on WeChat and Weibo while pushing messages that portray it in a positive light. They’re also aware of the consequences for challenging that or for seeking outside information.
“When the government spreads disinformation about other countries and blocks counter-narratives, it is much easier for people to buy into government’s narratives because you just don’t have access to alternative sources of information,” Yaqui Wang, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, told VICE News. And when it comes to claims about the U.S. Chinese people have been conditioned to believe the worst.
Viral on WeChat
According to Zhang, the conspiracy theory was shared in multiple WeChat groups they were in, and in such a way that it looked like a coordinated effort.
The CCP has a huge amount of control over how WeChat operates and has already shown its willingness to use that power to control the coronavirus narrative. It has banned WeChat users inside the country who have shared anything vaguely negative about the government’s response to coronavirus, it has silenced overseas WeChat users without their knowledge, and it has ramped up the level of censorship on the topic of coronavirus as the epidemic escalated. The fact China has not banned this topic from being discussed on WeChat shows that it is happy for it to continue to be disseminated.
Origins of a conspiracy theory
Research published this week by the Stanford Internet Observatory shows that the seeds of the conspiracy go back at least to January, when news of the virus in Wuhan. It is unclear when the conspiracy theory was first floated or by whom, but it had gained enough traction by the turn of the year that on Jan. 2, a Chinese-language YouTube channel shared a video dismissing the idea that the pneumonia in Wuhan was the result of U.S. genetic warfare.
It was around this time that whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang tried to warn friends about a growing pneumonia-like virus spreading in his hospital in Wuhan — before the government silenced him...Then, in March, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian gave the conspiracy the CCP’s seal of approval, tweeting that “It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.”
“Propaganda like this largely serves the leadership's interests in that it takes attention away from other problems in China,” one of the co-founders of GreatFire.org, an organization that tracks China’s online censorship, told VICE News, using the pseudonym Charlie Smith. “You — and many of your peers — are covering this story now instead of covering other, more truthful, and likely hurtful, stories. It's a waste of everyone's time except The Party's.”
应该是指中国墙内的中国人吧。
most chinese都在墙内吧，没毛病
豆瓣至少80%网民是相信的。天天“丑国病毒石锤”
在年轻一代中这话非常靠谱，我在国内的朋友同学，有相当一部分人就是这么认为的，即便不完全相信也认为这事情将来可能反转到美国头上。
谎言说一千遍就能成真理，千真万确。
也就我爸妈那一代吃足了共产党的苦头的人才会明确表示不信。
你说微博还更可信一点。不过跟一个带着任务来的新人争辩啥呢，呵呵
的确有等着看可能的反转戏的，但从来没有人 call USA virus
天天混豆瓣的人想说，层主说的对
同感。国内人民是真的相信“美军投毒”
举报她了没有？
这是翻译问题 你去看看国内都叫美国病毒
也没有
你们都没看过说这是美国针对黄种人/华人研究出来的基因病毒吗？说不感染白人，有鼻子有眼儿的。
没那义务
别说墙内，连这版上一样有认为美军无症状投毒可能性有25%的货LOL
这是人老百姓自己的言论自由。老百姓一天到晚猜什么的都有，还有人猜是外星人弄来的病毒呢。但是你一国政府信口开河没有确凿证据就依靠阴谋论指责别国，这是什么智商什么水平啊？！自己的外交官还公然把这种阴谋论宣扬得唯恐别人不知，这是挑衅找揍的行为。
在只看CCTV的中老年人中也很靠谱。
非常靠谱
混豆瓣几个流量组的表示，确实一堆”丑国投毒“
我们两边家里的长辈都表示美国投毒板上钉钉事实确凿。
粉红会告诉你低端人士才用微博，你要问他 那哪个国内论坛代表普通受过教育的人的论坛，扭扭捏捏半天说个知乎，好吧，知乎上啥论调大家都清楚，之前希望美国人都死光的高票贴不就是知乎上的吗
又暴露一个替中共病毒洗地的wm
羞愧难当，我爸深受其害一辈子，却还是将ccp奉若神明。对，这人就是我爸。很惭愧。
第一句话就看出你是个翻墙来的五毛。
好意思叫吗？不心虚吗？
是的，非常靠谱，甚至于有一批吃过苦头的老的也相信，国内洗脑非常成功
三人成虎，说的人多了，其他人从众心理也会信的
有的。叫美国病毒
玩了几年的豆瓣，现在已经不想去了，基本上都是战狼在狂欢。18年修宪时还能听到质疑声，现在只剩三跪九叩的了
是啊
真的很多很多人相信的，
无语了
我只想说，行吧，你们高兴就好
举报他了没有？
本來就是指墙内的人
都怪国内的自媒体咯？呵呵哒。李文亮不是什么大V也没啥流量的，跟同事说一句有sars流行，立马就被抓起来训诫不说，还给派上一线去当炮灰；自媒体在那上蹿下跳闹得满城风雨，也没见谁为此担责。
要是在美帝，这种事甩锅自媒体还能说得过去；中国，就那满身G点随时审核删帖的平台，动辄请人喝茶写检讨的网信办，有不随着政府的节奏起舞的自媒体吗？
我的家族群了从老到小基本都被洗脑，说是美国军方带到武汉的。。。。
太TMD靠谱了! 国内很多人真的这么想的,我都因此退了大学群了。实在没办法跟傻瓜战狼为伍。
确实有在美国多年的华人相信，我认识一个还是t2本科毕业的， 同学群里有人直说了她简直拉低大家的智商