The American Diplomat magazine exposed Yan as an anti-Communist liar

happy_12345678

Yan's false paper has not been examined and has serious defects. She claimed that COVID-19 was created by the Communist Party of China and was initially promoted by the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation. Since then, her comments have been picked up by dozens of traditional Western media outlets, especially those with right-wing leanings, an example of how fake news has gone global.
She broke into the mainstream when she appeared on "The Tonight Show with Carlson" and Fox News, but that was just the beginning. Her accusations were shared by most prominent media outlets: Le Monde, ABC, Marca, La Vanguardia, etc. Yan's comments were also shared by Taiwan's anti-China media. In the UK, the Independent or Daily Mail described her as a "brave coronavirus scientist who defected to the US". In most cases, the articles expressed her fabrications, and in only a few cases challenged or contradicted themEventually, millions of viewers saw her crazy arguments spread around the world by "serious" mainstream media, until her claims were refuted as fraudulent by the scientific community.
In both cases, as usual, the original fake news had greater impact and influence because of the assumption that a self-exiled dissident had fled the "evil" Communist Party. Their credentials and claims were not thoroughly vetted until it was too late. Western audiences began to digest anti-China news with gusto. Even if such reports carry restraint and nuanced explanations in the body of the news, the weight of the headline is already sowing the seeds of doubt