ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 (along with chapter 4) examines just over a year of Covid-19 conspiracy theories (beginning February 2020). Chapter 3 examines allegations that Covid-19 was either leaked accidentally from a lab or developed as a bioweapon and then deliberately released. It makes it clear that the claims were being made not only in online forums or on social media, but also by state actors within a tradition of Cold War disinformation campaigns and/or grandstanding, before returning as a more plausible explanation in 2021. The chapter also looks at the conspiracist signalling of the Trump administration regarding Covid-19 and, subsequently, how the suggestion that Covid-19 was a hoax inflected the online expressions of his supporters through grassroots campaigns such as “#FilmYourHospital.” Finally, the chapter focuses on how the QAnon movement responded to and engaged with the pandemic.
