Harassment and threats against scientists who speak of COVID-19 in the media

Internet harassment, death threats, and even attempted assassinations. The consequences for scientists who have had a media presence as a result of the COVID-19 have been violent at times, according to a survey published by Nature.

When he thought of taking the afternoon of May 17 off, Belgian virologist Marc van Ranst was unaware that this detail would save his life.

This scientist was the target of Jürgen Conings. Pursued by the police, this extreme right-wing military man managed to flee and ended up committing suicide on June 20 with a firearm. Four grenade launchers and ammunition were found in his car.

The investigation showed that Conings was near Van Ranst’s home on the famous May 17.

“Surveillance cameras show that his car was parked on the street waiting for him to come back” from work, says this virologist. “What he didn’t know is that, for the first time in 18 months, I had taken half a day off and was at home.”

Marc van Ranst and his family have lived under police protection ever since, and for about a month they were housed in various secret places.

This Belgian scientist had become the black beast of the opponents of masks due to his participation in the media during the health crisis: “I have a folder with about 150 threatening messages. In some they compare me with Hitler or with the Nazi doctor Mengele, but others are death threats ”.

“Extremely violent”

And it’s not the only one. According to the Nature magazine poll released Wednesday, scientists who appeared in the media to talk about the coronavirus were often the target of threats and harassment.

In total 321 scientists, most of them from the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany, responded to the survey of the prestigious scientific journal.

Only a third said they had suffered no negative consequences after speaking out publicly about COVID-19. More than half believe that their credibility was questioned and 15% say they have received death threats.

“It was extremely violent. I had never experienced something like this, ”explains French infectologist Karine Lacombe, co-author in December 2020 of a letter in the medical journal The Lancet where they denounced the harassment suffered by women scientists.

A media figure during the pandemic, Lacombe became the target of threats when he took a stand against the use of hydroxychloroquine, the treatment promoted by controversial French physician Didier Raoult.

“That’s where it all starts,” he remembers. “They insulted me on the street. They sent me anonymous letters, threatened to rape me with wire. Things like that. It was a very difficult time ”.

“Posttraumatic stress”

“One day, I received 1,000 emails with the same text, and some people had put a very humiliating personal message at the beginning of the email. In the end, repeating the same message drives you crazy, ”insists Karine Lacombe.

Lacombe is part of a collective of doctors and scientists known for their commitment against COVID-19 misinformation. At the beginning of September they denounced the insults and threats they have suffered for months, as well as the inaction and political inaction.

“I stopped filing complaints,” Lacombe laments, “psychically overwhelmed” acknowledges. “I developed a kind of post-traumatic stress: I didn’t go home for several days because I thought there would be people waiting for me.”

To “gain perspective” he relied on “psychologists who know well the mechanisms of hate on the internet”, and “groups that fight against hate and misinformation online.”

In the end, “they reinforced my convictions,” he says: “They want to silence us. Above all, do not give in to their blackmail ”.

Same diagnosis as Marc van Ranst: “I have not become more cautious, I continue to strongly oppose anti-vaccine messages and misinformation. If not, they win ”.