Second anniversary of WHO’s infamous tweet on Covid-19 reminds of social media’s retentive memory

A global campaign was observed on January 14 and 15 to celebrate the second anniversary of the (in)famous tweet made by the WHO, supporting the claims of the Chinese government that “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel Coronavirus”

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New Delhi: Social media has got a strong retentive memory as data stored over servers have a long shelf life. The magnitude of users and their ability to consume and store content complements it at the same time. 

An example of this virtue of social media was seen in a recent global campaign that was observed on January 14 and 15 to celebrate the second anniversary of the (in)famous tweet made by the WHO, supporting the claims of the Chinese government that “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel Coronavirus”. 

On January 14, 2020, the WHO had tweeted - “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China.”

Just after two months of tweeting this, the WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic and began receiving criticism from health experts and global leadership for its failure to contain the pandemic and assisting China to ensure deniability. 

According to a story titled “Exclusive | Coronavirus: China’s first confirmed Covid-19 case traced back to November 17” by South China Morning Post, the Chinese Communist Party government knew about the spread of the disease and its nature of human to human transmission - weeks or months before the tweet was made by the WHO. 

Additionally, several doctors and whistleblowers from China later came out in public to make revelations about China’s role in spreading the pandemic and launching disinformation campaigns to shield itself. Talking to the US press, prominent virologist Li-Meng Yan revealed that China knew about the virus and deliberately misguided the world on origins and nature of the virus. Yan, who was also one of the first doctors to work on the pandemic, was pressurised by her seniors at her University/WHO Reference Lab, as well as the Chinese Communist Party authorities against disclosing the findings of the research. Later, she had to flee her country.

On the second anniversary of the tweet, a couple of prominent policy makers and leaders across the world attacked the WHO and asked Twitter to flag it as a tweet promoting ‘misinformation’. Former Special Assistant to the U.S. President, Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA), tweeted - “Two years ago today, China/WHO was promoting the LIE that there is “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission” of covid. This tweet is not flagged as misinformation.” However, Twitter is yet to take action on it.  

The campaign gained momentum in India as well. Several handles including a few of prominent personalities quoted the tweet and questioned the WHO for its allegiance to China. To quote an example, Major General (Retd.) Harsha Kakar (@kakar_harsha) raised questions about China’s intentions and criticised its disinformation campaigns. Quoting WHO’s tweet, the veteran commented - “China lied, people died. The Chinese philosophy of lying has not changed. @globaltimesnews , @SpokespersonCHN @HuXijin_GT are China's most experienced liars.”

China lied, people died. The Chinese philosophy of lying has not changed. @globaltimesnews , @SpokespersonCHN @HuXijin_GT are China's most experienced liars pic.twitter.com/3f6H6I9YA8 — Maj Gen Harsha Kakar (@kakar_harsha) January 15, 2022

Human rights defenders from India and all over the world joined the chorus and took on the WHO for being soft over China and playing into its hands to force the world into the pandemic. A human rights activist Steve Grasha (@RealSteveGrasha), shared WHO’s tweet and commented - “2 years ago today: WHO's most infamous tweet, saying China found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of coronavirus.”

Similarly, the Chinese dissidents and members of persecuted communities in China also joined in the protest campaign against WHO for failing to hold China accountable. Many members from Uyghur, Tibetan and other persecuted communities took on the WHO. Quoting WHO’s tweet, an Uyghur human rights activist and a Ph.D. student Dolan Oghli (@DolanOghli) tweeted - I think #China forgot to order #WHO to delete this tweet.” 

It was not only the ‘Global North’, but WHO’s soft stance on China over Covid-19 pandemic was condemned by several Twitter users from the ‘Global South’ as well. Twitter users successfully trended a couple of hashtags, including #WuhanVirus #ChinaVirus #China, besides several others - many of which users have been trending since the beginning of the pandemic. 

As per some experts, the institution that was supposed to act as the global guardian for securing the right to health to every human being on the planet has failed to hold China accountable over the pandemic’s outbreak.

Out of all, the role of WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been questioned the most. When asked about the criticism by the then U.S. President Donald Trump for failing to manage the Covid-19 crisis, Tedros did not give a clear answer, and giving it a turn he alleged that trolls from Taiwan have been attacking him. He also tried to play the victim card and gain sympathy through his racial identity. He commented, “Three months ago, this attack came from Taiwan. We need to be honest. I will be straight today. From Taiwan… And Taiwan, the Foreign Ministry also, they know the campaign. They didn’t disassociate themselves. They even started criticizing me in the middle of all that insult and slur, but I didn’t care.”

Taiwan, which is yet to become a part of the United Nations, could not utilise the global platform to respond to the allegations made by him. However, the Taiwanese government termed the allegations as “baseless” and demanded an apology from him. Talking to social media, the country’s President Tsai Ing-wen said, “Taiwan has always opposed all forms of discrimination.” The President also invited him to make a visit to Taiwan. 

Moreover, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement and said - “Dr. Tedros’s unwarranted charges, made without any attempt at verification, are contrary to the facts and have caused serious damage to the government and people of Taiwan. Such slander is irresponsible, and the government of Taiwan demands that the Director-General immediately correct his trumped-up claims, issue a clarification, and apologize to the people of Taiwan.”