In early 2020, as the world grappled with the emergence of COVID-19, a startling narrative began to take hold across Chinese social media: the claim that U.S. biological laboratories, particularly the Fort Detrick facility, were responsible for producing the virus. This conspiracy theory (CT), initially circling within state media’s strategic dissemination, soon flourished into a sprawling web of interconnected allegations that extended far beyond its initial premise. What started as a tightly controlled message from official sources transformed into a widespread digital conversation that incorporated a myriad of conspiratorial threads, intertwining state agendas, popular sentiment, and misinformation in a complex socio-political ecosystem.
A recent detailed social network analysis of discussions on Weibo—the sprawling Chinese microblogging platform—illustrates how this CT took shape. Government accounts, identified by their coral pink markers in the network visualization, sat at the heart of the discourse, acting as primary propagators and agenda-setters. Influencer accounts, colored olive green, acted as amplifiers while the vast majority of ordinary netizens, depicted in gray-blue, engaged passionately with the narrative. The network encompassed nearly two thousand unique users, with government entities constituting over 18 percent of the discussion participants. Such active involvement by official channels underscores the state’s pivotal role in steering the conversation and mobilizing public opinion online, illustrating a top-down architecture in information dissemination centered around political objectives.
Topic modeling of the discussions reveals an intricate tapestry of themes and narratives interwoven with the laboratory CT. Central to the narrative is the “US_Ukrainelab” theme, spotlighting Fort Detrick and purported overseas biological research facilities in Ukraine. Parallel strands include online mobilization efforts demonstrated by calls to action, with petitions and viral sharing mechanisms pushing the CT to broader audiences. Notably, even figures from diverse backgrounds—such as notable artists—lent their influence, using cultural platforms to galvanize public engagement. Contrasting publicly led discussions, data reveals official accounts deliberately abstained from engaging in some topics considered too sensitive or potentially counterproductive, such as themes related to nuclear laboratories or criminal allegations, indicating a calculated control over the narrative scope.
The phenomenon of issue contagion is vividly illustrated by the expansion of the lab-origin theory into wider conspiratorial realms. While the initial accusation fixated on Fort Detrick’s alleged role in unleashing the pandemic, the conversation rapidly extended to implicate other actors and events. Some voices within the digital community hypothesized alternative sources, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s controversial gain-of-function research projects dating back to 2015. Others theorized that Japan’s controversial release of nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific was orchestrated by the United States as part of a broader biological warfare strategy. These speculative leaps underscore a common characteristic of conspiracy thinking: one theory acts as a gateway to an expanding network of related beliefs, reinforcing a broader worldview marked by distrust in official accounts and geopolitically framed antagonism.
More strikingly, the organic evolution of the discourse sometimes diverged from the state’s original interests, leading to unintended and complex consequences. The China-developed Sinovac vaccine, initially championed as a hallmark of national scientific sovereignty and a tool in the global health fight, unexpectedly became entangled within the web of conspiracy narratives. Some Weibo users began to question the vaccine’s governance and funding, linking it to supposed foreign interference through clandestine agreements with Western actors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These posts utilized emotive personal testimonies and speculative allegations to cast doubt on the vaccine’s integrity and purposes, thereby undermining public confidence in domestic health interventions and illustrating how state-led CTs can spiral beyond intended political control.
The potency of these narratives also derives from their sophisticated rhetorical construction. Phrases like “solid proof,” “expose,” and “the truth” pepper the discussions, lending a veneer of credibility and urgency. The careful use of supposedly factual “details,” often fabricated or lifted from disinformation campaigns, artificially inflates perceived truthfulness. For instance, a circulating claim linking U.S. President Joe Biden’s son to Ukrainian biological laboratories, purportedly backed by statements from the Russian Ministry of Defense, intertwines multiple layers of factional scandals and international power plays. Such strategic layering of information blurs the lines between fact and fabrication, enhancing the narrative’s capacity to persuade and mobilize readers within a hyperconnected information environment.
Nationalism sits at the core of this conspiracy’s spread, acting as a powerful accelerant within the context of deteriorating China-U.S. relations. The CT serves not only as a political tool but also as a social mechanism for reinforcing an “us versus them” dichotomy that bolsters collective identity. Through state media framing and public discourse, the United States is cast repeatedly as an antagonistic force responsible for global chaos and biological threats. This framing triggers and nurtures nationalist sentiments among Chinese citizens, whose responses range from direct insults to biting sarcasm aimed at ridiculing perceived American malevolence. One popular social media comment facetiously suggested awarding the Nobel Prize in medicine to U.S. labs for their “bioweapon” innovations, exemplifying the blending of humor and ideology in online engagement.
Participation in this CT is often viewed by engaged netizens as a form of strategic counterattack within the arena of international propaganda warfare. Many users explicitly recognize that the laboratory conspiracy theory acts as a defensive narrative, intended to counterbalance accusations against China’s handling of the pandemic. In this framing, participating in rumor-spreading is not passive consumption but active resistance—an information warfare tactic aimed at leveling the ideological playing field. Some comments reveal frustration with traditional diplomacy approaches, advocating for a more aggressive stance that discards concerns about reputation or ethical constraints to fight perceived misinformation with equal force, highlighting how conspiracy discourse intertwines with evolving concepts of digital nationalism and geopolitical rivalry.
Yet, this high degree of public engagement does not necessarily denote full awareness or endorsement of the state’s unreliability in disinformation. Many users appear motivated by genuine nationalist fervor or misplaced trust in government sources, blurring the distinction between state-led propaganda and grassroots conspiracy belief systems. This dynamic creates a challenging environment for governance and information integrity, where the ammunition used to defend national narratives can simultaneously erode public epistemic foundations and introduce new layers of uncertainty and distrust.
Moreover, the dissemination and evolution of these CTs are not isolated phenomena but part of broader global patterns wherein conspiratorial thinking thrives in environments characterized by geopolitical tension, social media virality, and polarized information ecosystems. The Chinese case of U.S. biological laboratories producing COVID-19 mirrors similar narratives elsewhere, where conspiracy theories proliferate and mutate according to local contexts and political agendas. This study, centered on the Weibo discourse, serves as a microcosm for understanding how CTs operate as both symptoms and tools of contemporary geopolitical conflicts, with multifaceted consequences for public health, diplomacy, and social cohesion.
The campaign’s linguistic framing also leverages emotional triggers embedded within collective historical memory and cultural identities. Linking contemporary outbreaks to older events, such as the 2016 rhinitis epidemic in Inner Mongolia, fosters a sense of ongoing external biological threat, reinforcing perceptions of vulnerability and external aggression. The strategic invocation of these historical episodes not only contextualizes new conspiracies within a broader narrative but also increases emotional resonance, making the conspiracy theory more persuasive and persistent across time.
Analyses of user engagement have shown that while government accounts maintain tight control over certain narratives, the broader public conversation often spills into unregulated and unpredictable territories, facilitating “issue contagion.” The CT transcends its initial biological laboratory theme and intertwines with parallel conspiracy communities, connecting themes of nuclear contamination, weaponized gain-of-function research, and geopolitical manipulation. This contagious spread reflects the challenges of governance in the digital age, where state messages can ignite diverse, decentralized dialogues with unintended trajectories.
Ultimately, the U.S. biological laboratory COVID-19 origin conspiracy exemplifies the intricate dance between state propaganda, social media dynamics, and popular sentiment in shaping public discourse during crises. It exposes how narratives are strategically crafted yet unpredictably adopted and adapted within digital populations—fueling nationalism while generating misinformation with tangible social and political impacts. Such phenomena underline the urgent need for nuanced governance strategies that address not only the supply of disinformation but also the complex interplay of identity, trust, and power in the digital public sphere as pandemic-era challenges persist.
Subject of Research:
Conspiracy theories surrounding U.S. biological laboratories alleged to have produced COVID-19 and their propagation dynamics, social network analysis, topic modeling, and nationalist discourse on Chinese social media.
Article Title:
Panacea or Pandora’s box: diverse governance strategies for conspiracy theories and their consequences in China.
Article References:
Ma, M., Han, F. & Wang, C. Panacea or Pandora’s box: diverse governance strategies for conspiracy theories and their consequences in China. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 12, 725 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04350-1
Image Credits: AI Generated
