A video started circulating on Twitter this week claiming to show ordinary Chinese citizens being handcuffed and forced to take COVID tests at gunpoint. At the time of making this report, it had already racked up 600,000 views, with thousands of people sharing it to their networks. The video, in actual fact, shows a group of workers from an illicit pornography ring who had just been busted, making this a perfect example of how malicious rumors about China spread like wildfire on Western social media. Let’s get reporting!

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Over the past few days, several people on Twitter have sent me a video purporting to show ordinary Chinese citizens being forced to take a COVID test by SWAT police at gunpoint.

The original video, posted by a Twitter user who constantly spreads misinformation about China, said the following: “Chinese citizens, handcuffed, lining up under the SWAT team’s watch to take their daily mandatory COVID test to keep their QR code Covid pass valid to keep their life going on. Is this what you want for the rest of your life?”

Even without watching the video I could smell bullshit, since no one in China would ever be handcuffed and forced to take a COVID test. When I watched the video it was instantly clear that the people featured in the video had just been arrested for an alleged crime that left them feeling ashamed. You can see some of those handcuffed have their heads down in shame. My first guess was they were members of a company undertaking some kind of fraud or scam.

Reports on China