Biden’s Renewed Interest in COVID Lab Leak Theory Likely to Worsen Anti-Asian Sentiment – UrduPoint News

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2021) US President Joe Biden's acknowledgment of the "lab leak" origin theory of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Facebook's immediate decision to stop banning posts about the possible artificial origin of the virus, are likely to aggravate anti-Asian sentiment in the United States and potentially worldwide, analysts told Sputnik, with some suggesting that the situation may contribute to the worsening of relations between Beijing and Washington.

Biden has recently directed the US Intelligence Community to redouble efforts to investigate the origins of COVID-19 and to report their findings to him in 90 days. The intelligence services that have insisted that there is insufficient evidence to assess whether COVID-19 came from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory leak, are expected to reach out to China on the issue. The announcement comes on the heels of the reports claiming that three laboratory employees in Wuhan, became sick in November 2019 with symptoms similar to those caused by COVID-19, which, according to the reports, should support the hypothesis that the virus could have originated in a laboratory.

Meanwhile, China rejected the reports as not corresponding to reality and said that Washington's intention to release a report on the origins of COVID-19 is just a political game and an attempt to shift the blame. In March this year, World Health Organization concluded in its official report that the leak from the lab was "extremely unlikely" and added that the virus was transmitted to humans from bats through another animal.

As a result, more people started linking the deadly virus to people who looked like Chinese. According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, hate crimes against Asian Americans jumped by over 160 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

Several days after Biden's statement, Facebook announced that it would no longer delete posts that describe the coronavirus as artificially created "in light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts." Previously, the social media giant fought fiercely with fake news about the alleged artificial origin of the virus.

Observers believe that the move by Facebook, a social media corporation with enormous influence on its users, can indeed affect the minds and attitudes of people toward the virus and China.

"Renewed interest in the 'lab leak' theory from China coming out of Washington and then cascading across Facebook could, unfortunately, raise anti-Asian hate. Sadly, Anti-Asian violence has risen since the beginning of the pandemic," Erik Qualman, an author and Social economics expert, told Sputnik.

Qualman said the dilemma for social media stretches beyond COVID-19 and is bigger than Facebook, yet with over 2 billion users, the network is the most influential.

"The key question is: should Facebook be treated like a news/media outlet like the New York Times or more like the AT&T [telecommunications company] and the phone lines? If it is, later than Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. could say we don't listen into your phone calls, we respect your privacy, we aren't going to censor anything," he said.

If social media, like Facebook, is viewed more as a media outlet, then one could argue they should censor the material, Qualman said.

"This is a slippery slope as Facebook then becomes judge and jury and you are trusting a public company to properly decide between what should be censored and what shouldn't be censored. Something that's an impossibility for them to get right 100% of the time. That's a high concentration of power ultimately in one person, Mark Zuckerberg," he explained.

Following Facebook's move, now in the world of massive social media influence, social networks like Facebook may dictate to people what to think. Qualman drew attention to the fact that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other major social media giants would prefer not to have to censor any comments as it is very costly for them.

"They are in the business of making money and anything that is a cost their shareholders don't like. But, as the public and governments demand that they censor certain things, you need to be careful what you wish for because that ultimately makes these platforms more powerful than they already are as they are then the judge and the jury on what we see and don't see," he concluded.

Now, as the topic of origins of COVID-19 resurfaced, there is the potential for conflict between the two sides over the matter, Matthew Carlson, professor of Political science at the University of Vermont, told Sputnik.

"I am not sure whether President Biden will apply sanctions because most likely the intelligence community will struggle to understand the origins of the virus. And sanctions in general are usually not a very effective tool. But nonetheless, efforts to push the laboratory accident in the US and in Washington are likely to lead to deteriorating relations between the two sides," he said.

Carlson noted that many pundits have predicted a war between China and the US for decades, none has happened so far.

"The conflict that emerges is most likely to be a war of words and a debate over how COVID emerged," he said.

Carlson hopes that the rhetoric of politicians and the media does not aggravate the situation or lead to violence against Asian Americans.

"While it is important to study the origins of COVID-19, it is also important to not stir up anxieties and anti-Asian attitudes that may lead to further violence against Asian Americans," he said.

Nevertheless, Carlson believes that asking to search for the origins of the virus is a good idea.

"There are conflicting theories on how the virus started and to prevent similar outbreaks in the future it is important to know more about the origins," he said, while admitting that it would be difficult to find an answer since China is opposing this sort of inquiry.

However, some experts like Benjamin Page, Professor of Decision Making of Northwestern University, do not believe that Biden's statement and actions should disrupt relations with China or worsen the public's attitude toward the Chinese people.

"The context is that accusations of 'germ warfare' by The 'China virus,' made by Donald Trump and right-wing Republicans, have already caused serious damage. The Biden investigations of a possible accident at the Wuhan bio research lab are very different," Page, whose work focuses on American politics, said.

Originally posted here:

Biden's Renewed Interest in COVID Lab Leak Theory Likely to Worsen Anti-Asian Sentiment - UrduPoint News