Facebook censored an article about an interview featuring a former Chinese virologist about the origins of COVID-19. The censorship came despite some evidence supporting the theory that the virus came from a lab and despite world leaders being briefed on it as the most likely scenario.
Dr. Li-Meng Yan is a Chinese virologist who escaped to the US after facing threats for talking about the origins of the virus in China. She has faced online censorship many times before.
Last week, The Daily Signal published an interview with Yan, who claims to have evidence that the virus was created in a research lab in Wuhan, China. She speculated that the virus was created with the approval of China’s army, the People’s Liberation Army.
Facebook is not allowing the article with the interview to be shared. The story has been flagged as “partly false information.”
It was “fact-checked” by Science Feedback, a self-described independent fact-checker, saying that,“The virus causing COVID-19 most likely evolved in natural wildlife populations before spreading to humans.”
In the interview, Yan said: “The virus actually does not come from nature. It came from the lab, the lab controlled by the Chinese Communist Party government and its military.”
She said that documents from the Chinese military support her claims.
Yan was warned not to go public with her findings.
“Be silent, don’t cross a red line. If not, you will be disappeared,” her supervisor at the University of Hong Kong told her in early 2020.
When The Daily Caller reached out to Facebook about the story, they blamed it on the fact-checker:
“Just as all fact-checks, if you wish to issue a correction or dispute a rating, we ask that you please contact the fact-checking organization directly. Third-party fact-checkers apply their ratings independently from Facebook and are responsible for responding to appeals. More information about the process can be found in our Help Center.”
The Daily Signal appealed the decision.
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