https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1190679.shtml
>>> US conspiracy-mongers, QAnon accounts spread ‘infodemic’ tweets against China, research finds
A new research has revealed that twitter accounts of Trump supporters and infamous US conspiracy-mongers endorsing the QAnon movement are at the center of a coordinated astroturfing campaign to spread rumors about the coronavirus, particularly the conspiracy theory saying "China created the virus as a bioweapon," an unverified accusation repeatedly embraced by the US president and his administration, leading many to suspect the political purposes behind the coordinated retweeting campaign in promoting the interests of far-right US politicians.
A recent report released by the Australia Institute's Centre for Responsible Technology found that the COVID-19 pandemic has also brought about an "infodemic," a term the World Health Organization defines as spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus, after the research team analyzed 2.6 million tweets and 25.5 million retweets that used coronavirus-related hashtags on Twitter over 10 days from late March 2020.
The coordinated efforts to promote the "Chinese bioweapon" conspiracy theory focused on 882 original tweets, which were retweeted 18,498 times and liked 31,783 times, creating an estimated 5 million reaches on Twitter users. Similar research in January suggested there is a highly sustained and coordinated effort to promote this theory by pro-Trump, Republican and QAnon accounts, though highly suspected to be bot-like accounts, according to the research.
Many of these conspiracy theories also frequently oppose the rise of China as a global power, 5G mobile network construction and vaccine development efforts funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Many of them can be marked as anti-Chinese accounts with posts criticizing the Communist Party of China (CPC) or posting other racist and hate speech content.
Analysts suggest that the goal of those rumor-mongers is to sow confusion, further exacerbate political divisions both within and between countries, and erode the public's trust in democratic and scientific institutions.
QAnon is one of the most dangerous US-made conspiracy theories starting in 2017 that concocted medical disinformation and downplayed scientific logic and the overall severity of COVID-19.