What is Disease X? How conspiracy theorists are making money from its misinformation

Experts globally have often urged the world to be prepared for the next pandemic, with public health agencies and governments saying that they are always readying their response for the next infectious disease emergency. 

But they asked how the world can prepare for something that is truly unknown. Hence, the concept of Disease X was introduced. 

World Health Organization (WHO) added the name Disease X to a shortlist of high-priority diseases to symbolise a hypothetical, unknown virus that may create a future pandemic. 

The term Disease X was coined in 2017 and refers to a hypothetical, newly discovered pathogen or any recognised pathogen with new pandemic potential. According to the latter description, the coronavirus (COVID-19) was the first Disease X. But there could be another in the future. 

In a way, there’s no need to worry for now. 

But in a recent fact-check by the news agency AFP, it was reported how Disease X has been at the centre of misinformation that American conspiracy theorists are amplifying. They are also profiting from it. 

Fact-checkers have revealed falsehoods such as the claim that the undiscovered illness is part of an aristocratic scheme to depopulate the world. It appears that such claims begin in the United States but spread to Asia in numerous regional languages. 

According to experts, the misinformation is fast-spreading and it shows the perils of reduced content moderation on social media sites. 

They said that it also threatened to fuel vaccine hesitancy and jeopardise preparation for public health emergencies four years after the outbreak of COVID-19. 

Some experts claimed that several conspiracy theorists are selling so-called emergency kits as they are telling the users in a sponsored message to be prepared. A message read, “Don’t be caught unprepared,” leading readers to a link to order the kits. 

“Spreading conspiracy theories in order to make money is a grift long established on the right,” Julie Millican, vice president of the left-leaning watchdog Media Matters, told AFP.

“The ones most likely to be spreading conspiracy theories” about topics such as Disease X, she added, “are also looking for a way to take advantage of their audience to profit from it.”

Watch: Gravitas | How Covid hits your brain long after infection

The fact-check report said that a section of influencers in the US are stoking fears about Disease X. They are also cashing in on the falsehoods by hawking medical kits which contain what health experts call an unproven Covid treatment.

“Misinformation mongers are trying to exploit this conspiracy theory to sell products,” Timothy Caulfield, from the University of Alberta in Canada, told AFP.

“This is often their primary mode of income. The conflict is profound. Without the evidence-free fearmongering about vaccines and government conspiracies, they’d have little or no income,” Caulfield added. 

The conspiracy theories particularly took off after the World Economic Forum – a magnet for misinformation – convened a “Preparing for Disease X” panel in January focused on a possible future pandemic. 

The AFP claimed that Alex Jones, who is the founder of the website InfoWars, has made millions spreading conspiracy theories about mass shootings and Covid. Without providing evidence, Jones apparently falsely claimed on social media that there was a globalist plan to deploy Disease X as a “genocidal kill weapon”.

Similar information also spread to China as posts shared on TikTok and X claimed the Chinese government was rolling out mobile cremation ovens to cope with “mass deaths”. 

(With inputs from agencies)