Warning: this blog contains links to archived versions of posts with highly offensive content. 

In August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared the Mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, following a surge in cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and surrounding countries. WHO officials were keen to emphasise that the outbreak is not “the new COVID-19” as health officials better understand how to control the spread of Mpox and a vaccine is already available. Still, the virus’s current spread across 13 different African countries, several Asian countries, and at least one European country warrants international awareness and action. 

However, GDI has observed a stream of anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ+, antisemitic, pseudoscience and foreign information manipulation and influence (FIMI) adversarial rhetoric surrounding the virus that may impact how seriously this outbreak is taken all over the world. The strong parallels to narratives weaponised in the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s and the hateful nature of rhetoric observed are of particular concern. 

The Mpox virus was first identified in a monkey in Denmark in 1958, lending the disease its original name of “monkeypox” - though this term was recently phased out due to the discriminatory and dehumanising connection of the name to racist tropes. Mpox has historically most impacted countries in central and western Africa, but a significant outbreak of Mpox in Europe and the Americas in May 2022 sparked concerns of a global emergency. This outbreak particularly impacted the LGBTQ+ community, primarily gay and bisexual men. 

The historical concentration in parts of Africa and disproportionate impact on the LGBTQ+ population have all been weaponised by malicious actors spreading disinformation and hate speech about this current outbreak. An array of posts on Bitchute, a social media platform known for hosting extreme content and hate speech, used racial slurs and dehumanising language to portray Black gay men as the cause of Mpox. There were calls for violence against the director of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, who is a Black man. An incel forum leveraged anti-Black slurs to claim that Mpox was a plot to “make white people go extinct.” On the 4chan forum, users claimed that Mpox and AIDS only affects Black people, and used a combination of extreme racial and homophobic slurs to describe the virus. 

The anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric surrounding the virus closely aligns with homophobic rhetoric surrounding the HIV/AIDS crisis. Posts on Bitchute used a variety of homophobic and transphobic slurs to describe Mpox and blamed “gay sex” for causing both Mpox and AIDS. Several articles and forums used Mpox to suggest that being queer is inherently deviant, and that the virus is a “curse from God” to punish LGBTQ+ people. 4chan posts echoed conspiracy theories regarding queer people and paedophilia, as illustrated in one post claiming gay men are spreading Mpox to children. This narrative has historically been used to vilify the LGBTQ+, portraying it as a threat to children and society more broadly.  

Social media posts on far-right forums espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories, claiming that Jewish people manufactured Mpox, with one post claiming that Jewish people also created AIDS. A post on Bitchute claimed that Jewish people are using the Mpox vaccine to carry out forced sterilisation on Black people, echoing similar conspiracy rhetoric around the COVID-19 vaccine. Antisemitic conspiracy theories overlapped with other conspiracy theories on Gab in a post accusing Jewish people of working with “Free-masons” to manufacture a dangerous Mpox vaccine, claiming that WHO is corrupted by these forces. 

Various articles used pseudoscience to cast doubt on the Mpox vaccine as well as the origins of the virus itself. At least two articles falsely claimed that the United States Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has admitted that there is “zero scientific evidence” for Mpox and called it “imaginary.” Other outlets questioned the official death tolls from Mpox and claimed that the vaccines are “experimental,” hewing closely to COVID-19 conspiracy narratives. Several conspiracy sites even posited that Mpox is a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccines, claiming that Mpox is one of several illnesses “suddenly” appearing after the rollout of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. 

Actors who previously spread conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic repackaged similar rhetoric while reacting to the Mpox outbreak. The German MEP Christine Anderson, affiliated with the far-right party AFD and featured in Mikki Willis’s film “Plandemic 3” on the COVID-19 pandemic, claimed on her website that  “Monkey Pox” was the “next Plandemic.” The French conspiracy site Planete 360 shared a video of former Vice-President of the French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) Florian Philippot claiming that authorities will use the Mpox virus to relaunch COVID-19 restrictions and undermine civil liberties. 

Other global conspiracy narratives sought to blame the spread of Mpox on various public figures and institutions, cast doubt on the vaccines available or outright deny the existence of the virus altogether. Some 4chan users sought to blame the emergence of the virus on the US Democratic Party, as an alleged tool to impose restrictions to win the upcoming elections and place citizens in “FEMA camps.” 

Multiple articles used a variety of homophobic slurs to accuse figures like Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates of making a “super virus” to impose a lockdown. Many sites and articles specifically claimed that Gates was creating a “Mpox plandemic” spread via chemtrails to roll out vaccines infected with HIV. Several conspiracy sites variously attacked the WHO as “pro-China” and/or corrupted by Big Pharma. 

Russian state-sponsored actors, meanwhile, leveraged Mpox to push the Kremlin’s narratives. The head of the Russian Rospotrebnadzor or Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, Anna Popova, declared Russia was shielded from Mpox as it upheld “traditional values,” stating there was “no risk” for the disease to spread to Russia by suggesting Russia’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws prevents the virus spreading there. Narratives contrasting Russia with an allegedly morally deviant West are a common element of Kremlin messaging, often featured in Russian influence operations to discredit the West (i.e. Europe called “Gayropa” by the Kremlin). 

Additionally, the Kremlin leveraged Mpox to spread anti-Western rhetoric while emphasising its collaboration with countries across Africa. Between 15th August and 7th September, Sputnik Africa, (formerly known as Sputnik France, renamed after the EU’s ban on Russian state-sponsored media in 2022) heavily covered Mpox, sharing 27 articles on the virus over this brief three-week period, emphasising the Kremlin’s view that the virus could be an effective wedge issue to promote itself. Sputnik and RT highlighted Russia’s support to African countries and promoted its own vaccine, while depicting Western efforts as the “white big brother” and “neocolonialism.” This neocolonial rhetoric was echoed by pro-Kremlin sites based in Europe. 

During the current Mpox outbreak, the trends observed echo dynamics of previous pandemics; at-risk groups were particularly targeted, and narratives shared during the HIV/AIDS or COVID-19 pandemics were re-purposed or adapted to foster distrust towards public and medical authorities. Similarly, malign actors who were heavily invested in spreading disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic also leveraged Mpox to spread adversarial narratives. As experts say future pandemics are inevitable, it’s essential to adopt a systemic approach to address disinformation related to public health, as the current Mpox outbreak is an illustration of how malign actors exploit health crises, leveraging similar tactics and harmful narratives across different outbreaks.