Well, guys. You know what this means.

THREAD on how this was a racist, evil conspiracy theory just a couple months (or weeks) ago. https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/1246053512267661312

To start, here’s @washingtonpost. Who obviously owe @SenTomCotton an apology.

This was three weeks ago, from @voxdotcom

Here’s @nytimes, who should probably also consider an apology to @SenTomCotton

But. But. But. The fact check says false, right, @USATODAY?

I, for one, am stunned that @mmfa would run with a dubious claim to smear a conservative.

Something tells me the Beijing mouthpieces at @SCMPNews won’t be updating this.

“Thoroughly debunked” says @businessinsider

@CNN is actually not as bad as I had expected here.

“Strongly condemn” says @ScienceMagazine

More of the always impartial and unbiased fact checkers at @snopes

@Reuters pushing Chinese propaganda without a shred of incredulity.

“Debunked” you say, @Independent?

“Evidence” @MSNBC says.

@ABC seemed quite confident to the contrary around a week ago.

I’m not sure “conspiracy theories are spreading faster than the coronavirus itself” aged particularly well, @ForeignPolicy

I couldn’t imagine making one of these threads and not having @Slate make an appearance.

Full link here. @RollingStone really covering itself in glory on this one. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/coronavirus-china-bat-patent-conspiracy-theory-942416/amp/

To be clear: I’m not claiming that it was a lab outbreak, and tried not to beat up on people for saying that it’s pretty clear this isn’t a bio weapon (which seems like a solid working hypothesis). The point is that the claims didn’t stop there.

And in case the take away isn’t clear: given how much we don’t know, the media (and everyone!) should be skeptical of a lot more than they are about China’s role in all of this.

And maybe apology to @SenTomCotton.

And given the smear campaign against @SenTomCotton - who has been more plugged in and dogged than anyone in getting to the bottom of this virus outbreak - this may be the most dispiriting thread I’ve had to do.

Also, if you’d like to read some good reporting on what happened post-outbreak, @WSJ has a great article of the transmission spread: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/how-it-all-started-chinas-early-coronavirus-missteps-11583508932