Coronavirus Outbreak: How an epidemic of misinformation spreads on China’s WeChat

From rumours to unscientific claims to dubious health advice to numerous conspiracy theories, China’s most popular messaging platform, WeChat is infested with misinformation related to Coronavirus. The Tencent-owned app with now 1 billion monthly active users, has taken some measures to fight medical misinformation but the scale of the problem is overwhelming.

By: Qian Sun

February 6th is going to be one of the most unforgettable days in the recent history of China. It was a day when Dr. Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital died of complications of coronavirus. Dr Li’s death who tried to warn about the coronavirus outbreak sparked what was seen as an online revolt. His death crystallised the outrage and frustration felt across China over the initial cover-up of the deadly virus. 

When Dr. Li posted his chat room warning on Dec. 30, the new coronavirus had not yet been identified. He said it resembled Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, an earlier coronavirus that ravaged China nearly two decades ago. But he was told by police to “stop making false comments” and was investigated for “spreading rumours”. Dr. Li in the pretext of spreading “untrue message” on WeChat had to sign an admonition letter and promise that he won’t engage in unlawful dissemination of misinformation.

(The admonition letter in Chinese)

(The admonition letter in English translation)

Dr. Li’s death came after a night of speculation about his fate, including an online outpouring of grief in China prompted by reports that he had died. Just hours before confirming that he had died, the hospital said on Chinese microblogging site  Weibo that it was still fighting to save him. At night, around 9:30 pm, several media outlets including People’s Daily, the largest newspaper group in China and BBC had published to confirm Dr Li’s death. Even twitter account of WHO tweeted about his death.

(WHO’s tweet)

But several minutes later, people in China, first through private chats and groups of WeChat started forwarding screenshots of conversation of doctors from Wuhan Central Hospital, where Dr. Li was hospitalised and was being resuscitated, saying that ‘the resuscitation is still underway’. Several state-owned media too claimed that through internal sources, they believe that Dr Li was still alive. 

But, different screenshots of private conversations between media staff of the same hospital were being forwarded from one to another: some said that Dr Li’s heart stopped beating at 9:30 pm, but they had to keep on resuscitating.

(Translation：
“Are you in the hospital?
How is the doctor?
I am
In front of the door
Still not confirmed.”)

Later, it was only around 3 am, the hospital declared his death ‘officially’. The apparent efforts to control the narrative even after Dr Li’s death – led to widespread anger and frustration. It also laid bare the worst aspects of China’s information command and control system of governance, and primarily how the national WeChat app works. 

Why are there so many rumours? 

Developed by China’s largest listed Internet company Tencent, WeChat — known as Weixin in China — is the social media of choice in mainland China, governing almost every aspect of life from social networking and shopping to messaging to takeout orders and paying electricity and water bills. With more than 1 billion monthly users, it combines all the basic features of WhatsApp, Instagram, Skype, Facebook, and even Paypal, as well as integrations with third-party services like Uber and Sky-Scanners.

WeChat was launched in January 2011 and has grown exponentially in China.  Over the years it has become an increasingly central source of news for Chinese-language users. WeChat allows users to curate their own content streams. Similar to Facebook, WeChat also has a ‘wall’ called ‘moments’, where users share posts. Many posts are from so-called official accounts (OA), which are in-platform and content-based accounts that are different from a private account. Any individual or organisation can start an OA on WeChat. Many OAs native to WeChat was started by the so-called ‘self-media’ or ‘we media’, but also almost every commercial brand and traditional news outlet have an account on WeChat.

As almost all media in mainland China is heavily censored by the authorities, the mistrust towards the state-owned media is high. People often turn either to bloggers or citizen journalists. But if you share an article an OA and your friend A commented on it, it is not possible to be seen by friend B, if B and A are not friends on WeChat. Also, you cannot tag or reply to an OA, so there isn’t much interaction. Many discussions happen only within closed chat groups. 

Hence, almost all the discussions on WeChat about the news content happens within private and semi-private networks instead of the open and connected public sphere that results in the masquerading of inaccurate and propagandistic content.  Researchers have found that information distributed through trust networks of users and peers is more likely to be redistributed, so it increased the likelihood of disinformation and misinformation going viral.

(A screenshot of a group chat created by people in Wuhan, aiming to connect people from Wuhan and other areas. The conversation is about how accurate the number is, one user whose mother works in a hospital claimed that for the confirmed cases, the number is at least 15 times more, and for death, at least 10 times more. )
(Translation：
“-What’s the death toll you think?
-In Wuhan
-you can calculate with many times more
-4 times?
-approximately?
-I think you have some misunderstanding
-around 10 times
-confirmed cases around 15 times
-I am conservation
-that’s the data national wide “)

As we saw with Dr Li’s case emotional reaction can amplify the traction. On the night of Dr. Li’s death, the initial information of him still being resuscitated was from a private chat and Li, being an ordinary citizen, who fulfilled his duty of being a doctor while he was alive, was falsely accused of ‘spreading rumour’. 

On top of the downside of the individuals formed networks built around trust, peer-to-peer distribution of content, the powerful Chinese censorship apparatus on information also contributed to the chaos on WeChat. Topics of fake news on WeChat seemed eerily similar to the content on other social media platforms and massaging apps. Most of the misinformation has been about the origin of the virus, its spread, shortage of food and medical supplies, Dr Li’s death and overall death toll. There was also an array of wildly untrue claims.

For example, the coronavirus was created as a bioweapon or was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to further vaccine sales. Or that the virus can be cured by eating garlic or drinking a bleach concoction. Or a rumour which was viewed by over 100 million Chinese netizens claimed that the virus was lab-made, stoking up a conspiracy theory that there had been a biological attack against China.

There were also a number of posts on WeChat that the novel coronavirus is not only communicable via breath droplets and physical contact, but also through eye-contact between two individuals. Another post on WeChat suggested that cities, where patients had fallen sick, should set off fireworks to kill the disease in the air. 

“WeChat users have been active in not only editing, modifying and truncating reports from other sources, but also in fabricating and circulating news and information, including fake news and disinformation, that is shared among thousands and potentially millions of people in a variety of forms such as one-on-one, in WeChat groups, each of which is capped at 500 members, in WeChat Moments, in WeChat public accounts and so on,” Professor Jia Wenshan wrote in China Daily on  Feb 7, 2020. 

Prof Jia, who teaches communication at Chapman University, further elaborated that compared with traditional media, WeChat communication is more spontaneous, speedier, more personal and compassionate, but less organized, and less professional.

Combating medical misinformation:  

In the wake of Dr Li’s death, it was clear that the Chinese state apparatus stopped him from sharing key information about the virus. Li was interrogated by both medical authorities and police before being forced to sign a statement disavowing his early warning of the deadly disease as an “illegal rumour.” Soon, however, thousands of residents in Wuhan had contracted the virus that has now spread around the world, claiming hundreds of lives. 

“We cannot judge rumour simply because I don’t agree with what you said,” Guo Jing, a social worker and rights activist from Wuhan wrote on her WeChat on the night of Dr Li’s death. 

(Screenshot of Guo Jing’s wall on WeChat)

In China, like some other countries as well, the term ‘rumour’ is inherently vulnerable as it is being politicised and weaponised against any expressions that the people in power don’t like to hear and undermine the freedom of speech. Anything that’s potentially threatening to the state or a ruling regime would be dismissed as a rumour. As the case of Dr Li indicates, the government claims that citizens who exchange information they cannot necessarily verify are the same as those who intentionally spread misinformation or disinformation. 

Hu Yong, a professor of social media studies from Beijing University wrote in China Digital Times, “In a social order if the information is tightly controlled by the authority, rumours will intensify. When the events occurred are beyond people’s comprehension and [and there is not] a logical explanation, rumours tend to spread fast.”

One thing is clear that WeChat is a valuable communication tool in China. But it is also the most vulnerable tool for misinformation. Tencent is keenly aware of the problem. It knows the Chinese government really frown upon any information that creates what they call social discord or rumours in any form. Tencent has a strong incentive to rein in some of this misinformation. 

It has its own fact-checking network and operation, which mainly focuses on debunking health rumours on the platform. But despite the efforts, hundreds of thousands of people have consumed falsehoods about the coronavirus on its platform. And across China, where people don’t have access to reliable independent information, they basically read whatever WeChat account feeds them.