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1/5 This @nytimes article by @paulmozur is a smoking gun on the genesis of the coronavirus lockdowns.
According to the article, the CCP launched a massive social media campaign in ITALY to advertise its coronavirus lockdown measures in early March. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/technology/china-twitter-disinformation.html
According to the article, the CCP launched a massive social media campaign in ITALY to advertise its coronavirus lockdown measures in early March. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/technology/china-twitter-disinformation.html
2/5 The fact that CCP’s disinformation campaign focused on Italy is crucial. Italy was the first country outside China to lock down. The rest of the world followed Italy’s lead.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_lockdowns
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_lockdowns
3/5 But CCP's campaign wasn't limited to Italy. The article states that this Tweet advertising China's lockdown policy to the world is fake. It has 142,000 likes.
Tweets like this prove CCP was actively selling the world on Wuhan-style lockdowns in early March.
Tweets like this prove CCP was actively selling the world on Wuhan-style lockdowns in early March.
4/5 Next, if you search for the URL of that fake Tweet (https: //twitter.com/manisha_kataki/status/1238007207700180992), you'll find it retweeted by many accts around the world.
Each acct is suspicious—they Tweet incessantly about COVID until Floyd's death, then solely BLM.
Each acct is suspicious—they Tweet incessantly about COVID until Floyd's death, then solely BLM.
5/5 The sheer scale of this operation and the number of accounts involved, and its influence around the world, is really remarkable.
Thousands of accounts tweeting incessantly about COVID hysteria, then pivoting to incessant BLM and anti-police propaganda, in every country.
Thousands of accounts tweeting incessantly about COVID hysteria, then pivoting to incessant BLM and anti-police propaganda, in every country.
6/5 The day after @paulmozur's NYT article was published, @Twitter suspended over 170,000 fake Chinese accounts.
But none of the fake accounts involved in the ring described above were suspended. This problem is much larger than Twitter acknowledges. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/technology/twitter-chinese-misinformation.html
But none of the fake accounts involved in the ring described above were suspended. This problem is much larger than Twitter acknowledges. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/technology/twitter-chinese-misinformation.html
7/5 More than 50 NIH scientists fired due to China ties. Hundreds more under investigation.
By co-opting scientists and academics while aggressively promoting lockdowns through social media propaganda, China made lockdown pseudoscience seem sound. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/fifty-four-scientists-have-lost-their-jobs-result-nih-probe-foreign-ties
By co-opting scientists and academics while aggressively promoting lockdowns through social media propaganda, China made lockdown pseudoscience seem sound. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/fifty-four-scientists-have-lost-their-jobs-result-nih-probe-foreign-ties
8/5 Though CCP's influence operations in media, politics, and academia were surreptitious, its stance in support of global adoption of COVID lockdowns was explicit. Here is China's foreign spokesperson promoting strict social distancing among children: https://twitter.com/SpokespersonCHN/status/1246665952139198464
9/5 In speech this morning at @HudsonInstitute, @FBI director Chris Wray says CCP specifically approached local politicians to endorse its COVID lockdowns.
https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/1280517599948877832?s=21 https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/1280517599948877832
https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/1280517599948877832?s=21 https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/1280517599948877832
10/5 "in fact, we have heard from federal, state, and even local officials that Chinese diplomats are aggressively urging support for China’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Yes, this is happening at both the federal and state levels." https://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/the-threat-posed-by-the-chinese-government-and-the-chinese-communist-party-to-the-economic-and-national-security-of-the-united-states
11/5 This collage is a tiny sample of the fake accounts CCP used to popularize COVID lockdowns.
In these Tweets, CCP sends its regards to the world by denigrating every other government in the world, using many dialects, and contrasting them with its authoritarian "success."
In these Tweets, CCP sends its regards to the world by denigrating every other government in the world, using many dialects, and contrasting them with its authoritarian "success."
12/5 These Tweets were easily identified using leads in
@paulmozur's NYT article. https://nytimes.com/2020/06/08/technology/china-twitter-disinformation.html
Here, hundreds of fake accounts whine about "washing their hands" while China locks down. Nearly identical Tweets are made in many languages.
fake Spanish Tweets—
@paulmozur's NYT article. https://nytimes.com/2020/06/08/technology/china-twitter-disinformation.html
Here, hundreds of fake accounts whine about "washing their hands" while China locks down. Nearly identical Tweets are made in many languages.
fake Spanish Tweets—
13/5 Twitter responded the following day by saying they'd removed the 170,000 accounts in this campaign. https://nytimes.com/2020/06/11/technology/twitter-chinese-misinformation.html
But Twitter lied. These fake CCP accounts, and presumably hundreds of thousands of others, are still doing CCP's bidding.
fake French Tweets—
But Twitter lied. These fake CCP accounts, and presumably hundreds of thousands of others, are still doing CCP's bidding.
fake French Tweets—
14/5 In cooperation with FBI, National Science Foundation reports between 14-18 cases of undisclosed China financial ties.
This is in addition to the 175 cases of undisclosed China financial ties earlier reported by the NIH, a much larger organization. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02051-8
This is in addition to the 175 cases of undisclosed China financial ties earlier reported by the NIH, a much larger organization. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02051-8
15/5 “Sweden—partly due to its own COVID-19 response—has been a prime target of a Chinese campaign portraying Western democracies as weak against the threat. Sweden is one of few countries that ordered no lockdown and put its faith in herd immunity.” https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Sweden-China-ties-grow-ever-icier-over-Hong-Kong-and-coronavirus
16/5 The fall that shut down the world.
This video of a Wuhan man “falling dead” from COVID went viral in January. Farcical, in hindsight.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/china/video-2094890/Video-Dramatic-footage-shows-people-collapsing-suddenly-Wuhan-city.html
This video of a Wuhan man “falling dead” from COVID went viral in January. Farcical, in hindsight.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/china/video-2094890/Video-Dramatic-footage-shows-people-collapsing-suddenly-Wuhan-city.html
17/ In CCP interview, Editor-in-Chief of Lancet praises CCP’s lockdowns:
"not only the right thing to do, but it also showed other countries how they should respond in the face of such an acute threat. So, I think we have a great deal to thank China for" https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187265.shtml
"not only the right thing to do, but it also showed other countries how they should respond in the face of such an acute threat. So, I think we have a great deal to thank China for" https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187265.shtml
18/ @WHO was instrumental in pushing world leaders to adopt China's lockdowns and insisting lockdowns not be lifted until strict tracing criteria were met.
Bruce Aylward is the same WHO leader who disconnected a live interview when asked about Taiwan. https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2020-02-26/-Copy-China-s-response-to-COVID-19-WHO-expert-urges--OnNfwORI3u/index.html
Bruce Aylward is the same WHO leader who disconnected a live interview when asked about Taiwan. https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2020-02-26/-Copy-China-s-response-to-COVID-19-WHO-expert-urges--OnNfwORI3u/index.html
19/ South Dakota Governor @govkristinoem famously refused to issue a state lockdown.
Her decision didn't sit well with Beijing. CCP's army of fake accounts began filling her Twitter feed with abuse to punish her disobedience and pressure her to shut down her state.
Her decision didn't sit well with Beijing. CCP's army of fake accounts began filling her Twitter feed with abuse to punish her disobedience and pressure her to shut down her state.
20/ By contrast, the accounts heap praise on governors who tighten lockdowns, like Dan Andrews, gov of Victoria, AUS.
Andrews' long-time staffer attended a high-level CCP academy. An MP leading Andrews' Belt & Road negotiations with Beijing lauded China's handling of COVID.
Andrews' long-time staffer attended a high-level CCP academy. An MP leading Andrews' Belt & Road negotiations with Beijing lauded China's handling of COVID.
21/ @BorisJohnson initially opted for herd immunity. But on Mar 13, four days after Italy's lockdown, CCP began storming his feed, likening his plan to genocide. These words almost never appear in his feed before Mar 12.
Tragically, the abuse worked, and UK locked down Mar 23.
Tragically, the abuse worked, and UK locked down Mar 23.
22/ The bold-faced lie of lockdowns is "China controlled the virus." It's an obvious lie—China's data is manifestly forged. But CCP normalizes this Orwellian lie by demanding every elite publication and journal repeat it, transforming the snake oil of lockdowns into "science."
23/ Physicist Yaneer Bar-Yam has spent months uncritically cheerleading China's lockdowns—including CCP's genocidal lockdown in Xinjiang—and promoting China's obviously-fraudulent data.
In February, Bar-Yam launched a website recommending strict lockdowns in 18 languages.
In February, Bar-Yam launched a website recommending strict lockdowns in 18 languages.
24/ Hard to think of any place more ill-suited to a total lockdown than Africa, but that's exactly what CCP's fake accounts demanded of South African President @CyrilRamaphosa on March 22. The next day, they got what they wanted, and Ramaphosa announced a total lockdown.
25/ India is a key rival of China, so CCP disinformation there is especially nasty.
On March 23, CCP's army of fake accounts implored PM @PMOIndia to lock down India and order the army to "shoot on sight" to enforce it. The next day, Modi announced a destructive lockdown.
On March 23, CCP's army of fake accounts implored PM @PMOIndia to lock down India and order the army to "shoot on sight" to enforce it. The next day, Modi announced a destructive lockdown.
26/ On Dec 30, Li Wenliang warned friends of a new SARS-like illness in a message that went viral, causing widespread anger at CCP in China.
On Jan 7, Xi informed his innermost circle that the situation in Wuhan would require their personal supervision. https://www.ft.com/content/3da73290-5067-11ea-8841-482eed0038b1
On Jan 7, Xi informed his innermost circle that the situation in Wuhan would require their personal supervision. https://www.ft.com/content/3da73290-5067-11ea-8841-482eed0038b1
27/ Two weeks later, the CCP locked down Wuhan based on Xi's philosophy of 'fangkong,' the same hybrid of health and security policy that inspired the mass 'quarantine' of over one million Uyghurs 'infected with extremism' in reeducation camps. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2020-07-10/chinas-troubling-vision-future-public-health
28/ International COVID hysteria began two days later with a viral tweet by Eric Ding calling the coronavirus R0 'thermonuclear,' the first of many dubious tweets by the previously-unknown Ding, prompting a prominent colleague to call him a 'charlatan.' https://www.chronicle.com/article/this-harvard-epidemiologist-is-very-popular-on-twitter-but-does-he-know-what-hes-talking-about/
29/ The Politburo co-opted Li Wenliang’s fame for their own ends, declaring him a national martyr and ensuring the haunting image of Li on a ventilator—which are now known to be counterproductive—was carried by every major news outlet and seared into the world's memory.
30/ It seems CCP didn't need to buy Bill Gates. In Gates' words:
"China, on the other hand, 'did a very good job of suppressing the virus,' thanks, in part, to the 'typical, fairly authoritarian' approach and the 'individual rights that were violated.'" https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bill-gates-the-worst-of-the-pandemic-is-yet-to-come-and-freedom-played-a-part-in-the-disappointing-us-response-2020-08-20
"China, on the other hand, 'did a very good job of suppressing the virus,' thanks, in part, to the 'typical, fairly authoritarian' approach and the 'individual rights that were violated.'" https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bill-gates-the-worst-of-the-pandemic-is-yet-to-come-and-freedom-played-a-part-in-the-disappointing-us-response-2020-08-20
31/ The Wuhan Lab and CCP's fake "whistleblowers" hyping a "man-made super-virus" have been key psychological decoys, distracting hawkish intelligence officials and filling them with the same irrational fear that popularizes CCP's indefinite lockdowns. https://jordanschachtel.substack.com/p/covid-19-whistleblower-published?r=6a3x3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter
32/ In its Feb 24 press conference, @WHO summarily concluded China's lockdowns "save lives" and thus began selling them to every other country, regardless of how many cases those countries had—but most Chinese cities outside Hubei stayed open. https://www.aier.org/article/whats-behind-the-whos-lockdown-mixed-messaging/
33/ On March 15, bots began wildly sharing a YouTube video they called a "message from the future" showing Italians with "a message to themselves from 10 days prior" gaining 8,300,000 views.
It said, "the US, England, France, Spain and Germany are about 9-10 days behind Italy"
It said, "the US, England, France, Spain and Germany are about 9-10 days behind Italy"
34/ In his viral March 10 article, Tomas Pueyo predicted:
"in 2–4 weeks, when the ENTIRE WORLD is in lockdown…"
Yet by Mar 10, the developing world had almost no cases, and @WHO hadn't declared a pandemic. But 4 weeks later, Pueyo proved "clairvoyant"—entire world in lockdown.
"in 2–4 weeks, when the ENTIRE WORLD is in lockdown…"
Yet by Mar 10, the developing world had almost no cases, and @WHO hadn't declared a pandemic. But 4 weeks later, Pueyo proved "clairvoyant"—entire world in lockdown.
35/ Chinese business leader Ren Zhiqiang was sentenced to 18 years in prison over an essay in which he demanded the truth about Xi's lockdown orders.
"Why haven’t the January 7 [Wuhan lockdown] instructions been made public, not yet even today?!"
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2020/03/translation-essay-by-missing-property-tycoon-ren-zhiqiang/
![35/ Chinese business leader Ren Zhiqiang was sentenced to 18 years in prison over an essay in which he demanded the truth about Xi's lockdown orders."Why haven’t the January 7 [Wuhan lockdown] instructions been made public, not yet even today?!" https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2020/03/translation-essay-by-missing-property-tycoon-ren-zhiqiang/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ElOYTBiUcAASRlR.jpg "35/ Chinese business leader Ren Zhiqiang was sentenced to 18 years in prison over an essay in which he demanded the truth about Xi's lockdown orders.\"Why haven’t the January 7 [Wuhan lockdown] instructions been made public, not yet even today?!\" https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2020/03/translation-essay-by-missing-property-tycoon-ren-zhiqiang/")
"Why haven’t the January 7 [Wuhan lockdown] instructions been made public, not yet even today?!"
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2020/03/translation-essay-by-missing-property-tycoon-ren-zhiqiang/
36/ The largest gift in the history of Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health came from a “pawn of the CCP” “cheerleader for a government responsible for significant humanitarian crises” through shell companies—the largest was named in the Panama Papers.
https://www.thecrimson.com/column/for-sale/article/2020/10/19/hava-the-other-chan/
https://www.thecrimson.com/column/for-sale/article/2020/10/19/hava-the-other-chan/
37/ In 2015, Xi personally visited Imperial College—the most influential and alarmist COVID modeler and "China's best academic partner"—for "new UK-China education and research collaborations" including "nanotechnology, bioengineering…and public health." https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/168497/chinese-president-sees-uk-china-academic-partnerships/
38/ Four weeks before visiting Imperial, Xi personally visited Microsoft in Seattle for a "new partnership between the University of Washington [home of IHME, second-most-influential COVID modeler] and Tsinghua University… a new model for collaboration"
https://www.washington.edu/news/2015/09/23/chinese-president-presents-gift-to-global-innovation-exchange/
![38/ Four weeks before visiting Imperial, Xi personally visited Microsoft in Seattle for a "new partnership between the University of Washington [home of IHME, second-most-influential COVID modeler] and Tsinghua University… a new model for collaboration" https://www.washington.edu/news/2015/09/23/chinese-president-presents-gift-to-global-innovation-exchange/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/El3OH4NW0AEHJcB.jpg "38/ Four weeks before visiting Imperial, Xi personally visited Microsoft in Seattle for a \"new partnership between the University of Washington [home of IHME, second-most-influential COVID modeler] and Tsinghua University… a new model for collaboration\" https://www.washington.edu/news/2015/09/23/chinese-president-presents-gift-to-global-innovation-exchange/")
https://www.washington.edu/news/2015/09/23/chinese-president-presents-gift-to-global-innovation-exchange/
39/ Underlying the "science" of lockdown is the concept of "asymptomatic spread"—a major departure from prior knowledge—without which the scientific case for lockdowns falls apart.
All studies showing significant asymptomatic spread have come from China.
https://twitter.com/ClareCraigPath/status/1316652901339729925?s=20
All studies showing significant asymptomatic spread have come from China.
https://twitter.com/ClareCraigPath/status/1316652901339729925?s=20
40/ Only three sources in WHO's current COVID testing guidance discuss PCR Cycle Thresholds—all are from China and use 37 to 40 CTs.
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331501/WHO-COVID-19-laboratory-2020.5-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
37 to 40 is now excessive global standard producing 90% false positives per NYT—endless casedemic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331501/WHO-COVID-19-laboratory-2020.5-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
37 to 40 is now excessive global standard producing 90% false positives per NYT—endless casedemic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html
41/ Christian Drosten led creation of the world's predominant COVID PCR test using "in silico (theoretical) sequences, supplied by a laboratory in China." It was accepted, without real peer review, the same day @WHO confirmed human-to-human transmission.
https://cormandrostenreview.com/report/
https://cormandrostenreview.com/report/
42/ In Yale study on accuracy of various institutions' COVID models, Imperial College, "China's best academic partner in the west," consistently had BY FAR the largest median percent error (MAPE), driven by consistent "tendency to overestimate mortality."
https://medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.13.20151233v5.full-text
https://medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.13.20151233v5.full-text
43/ In March, @WHO released guidance recommending early "invasive mechanical ventilation" as the "first choice" for COVID patients based on "Chinese expert consensus," citing Chinese journals. Doctors abandoned this guidance after it killed thousands. https://jordanschachtel.substack.com/p/first-choice-how-china-and-the-who?r=6a3x3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter
44/ Neil Ferguson reflects how China's lockdowns inspired him:
“It’s a communist one party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with it … then Italy did it. And we realised we could… If China had not done it, the year would have been very different.’” https://unherd.com/thepost/neil-ferguson-interview-china-changed-what-was-possible/
“It’s a communist one party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with it … then Italy did it. And we realised we could… If China had not done it, the year would have been very different.’” https://unherd.com/thepost/neil-ferguson-interview-china-changed-what-was-possible/
