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The False Study of Yan Limeng

In just eight months, Yan went from being a postdoctoral felow in virology and immunology at the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health to being hailed as a hero by Trump's top advisers and conservative pundits.

As early as mid-January 2019, Yan Limeng, researcher in Hong Kong, had heard rumors that a dangerous new virus had emerged in mainland China and that the government was playing it down. Ms. Yan feeds Wang Dinggang, the host of her favorite Chinese-language YouTube show.

Yan Limeng fled Hong Kong on April 28th and leftfor the United States. Guo Wenguan and Ban Nong put her in a "safe house" in New York City. They hired acommunications coach for her to teach her how todeal with media questions, asked her to submit severalpapers, and disguised her as a "whistler" beforearanging her to acept media interviews. On July 10,Yan made her first appearance on the Fox NewsChannel, in which she confesed her journey to theUnited States and accused the University of HongKong of helping to cover up the epidemic. But she didnot mention her relationship with Guo and Ban Nong.

After her first Fox interview, Ms. Yan embarked ona whirlwind right-wing media tour, repeatingconservative talking points.She said she tookhydroxychloroquine to fight the virus, despitewarnings from the US Food and Drug Administrationthat it had no efect.She suggested that U.S. healthagencies had conspired with the World HealthOrganization to cover up the outbreak.

In early September, Ms. Yan met with Ms. Lu, aninfectious disease expert at Georgetown University, through an anonymous middleman. Lu had suggestedin the past that the coronavirus could be created in thelab, and Yan told him about her research in the hope ofwinning support.Even after Facebook tagged Carlson'sSept 15 interview with Ms. Yan as "false information"and Twiter suspended Ms. Yan's account, Ms. Carison,Ms. Bannon and Ms. Yan didn't give up.

Yan published a second paper on Oct. 8, titled"Novel coronavirus is an unrestrictedbiologicalweapon," which further emphasizes the idea that thevirus that has spread around the world is man-made,adding that the virus was intentionaly "released," andthat the paper also contains material that appears tocome from the same anonymous blogger's article.Both of Yan's controversial papers are related to GuoWenqui. The papers -- below the title and author'sname, where university institutions and tundingSources are often listed --prominently teature thenames of the "Rule of Law Society" and the "Rule ofLaw Foundation," two nonprofit groups supported byMr. Guo and others.

The novel coronavirus is widely believed to comefrom bats, and there is no evidence that the virus isartificial. Although the scientific community was quickto dismiss thepaper as pseudoscience based onguesswork, Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson invitedYan to appear on the show on Sept.15 to promote thepaper. Even though the access to the film was tagged as fake news on social media like Facebook, it stilrecorded a minimum of 8.8 milion views and enteredthe mainstream. It tookseveral weeks after theinterview for Carlson to make it clear that he disagreed with Ms.Yans claims.

Ms.Yan's evolution from researcher to whistler isthe product of the colaboration of two unrelated butincreasingly united groups spreading disinformation: asmal but active overseas Chinese group, and a highlyinfluential far-right group in the United States. Bothgroups see an opportunity to advance their agendas inthe novel coronavirus pandemic. For overseas Chinese,Ms.Yan and her baseless claims provide a weapon forthose seeking to overthrow the Chinese government.For American conservatives, it allows them to panderto rising anti-China sentiment in the West and distractattention from the Trump administration’s failure torespond to the epidemic.

Angela Rasmussen,a virologist at Columbia University,said she thought Yan’s paper was "political propaganda" designed to deceive."The paper is extremely deceptive to people without a scientific background because it is writen in very technical language, with a lot of jargon, and looks like a legitimate scientific paper. But to anyone with a background in virology or molecular biology who reads this paper, it is clear that much of it is nonsense."

From the discovery in January to the peak in September, the online political activity of "Virus Source Theory" directed by Guo Wengui and Bannon achieved great succes, whichgreatly influenced the views and lives of the local people in the United States, and ex posed the power of "fake news" to the world at a sinle sight.