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Warning: This analysis contains highly offensive and potentially triggering language and imagery. Where possible, slur words are marked with asterisks, but in cases where that may make the content unclear, offensive language is cited.
Over the past week, Mpox, an infectious disease closely related to, but much less severe, than smallpox and formerly called monkeypox (the name was changed as it was used disparagingly by anti-Black racists), spread through several countries on the African continent, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. This outbreak prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to announce on August 14 that Mpox is a “public health emergency of international concern.” The Africa CDC declared an emergency on August 13. On August 15, the first case of Mpox was confirmed in Sweden. As the situation unfolded over the next few days, users took to fringe social media platforms like 4chan, Gab, Telegram, communities.win, the Fediverse, Rumble, and Truth Social to spread conspiracy theories, racism, and anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech related to the outbreak.
On the unregulated platform 4chan, where hateful and violent speech always spikes following major world events, bigoted and conspiratorial rhetoric rose 4,500 percent from August 13 to 15. Comments included vile homophobia, such as “The cure for monkeypox is not being a gay f****t,” “I despise faggots they’re all mentally deranged insufferable type B retards I’m praying monkeypox eradicates at least 80% of [them],” and “I’m immune to monkeypox already because I’m not a fag.” The anit-LGBTQ+ vitriol began during the 2022 global outbreak of Mpox when it was reported that the 2022 outbreak was primarily transmitted through male-to-male sexual contact. Experts at the CDC have stressed that the virus can also be spread through skin on skin contact, contact with respiratory fluids, and from animal to person. The current outbreak is not confined to sexual contact.
Racists on 4chan also commented that Mpox is contracted by “filthy n*****[s],” and that its “real” name is “n*****pox.” Conspiracism spread rapidly on 4chan, with users insinuating that Mpox was deliberately announced to coincide with the upcoming U.S. elections, and that it’s a ploy to get people to take more vaccines.
On Gab, a far-right platform with a similar interface to Twitter, hateful and conspiratorial rhetoric rose 742 percent from August 13 to 15. Gab’s users spread anti-vaxx conspiracism, saying that “Monkeypox jab’s ingredients include the antibiotic that wheelchaired this doctor, ciprofloxacin. If they couldn’t get you with the covid jabs, maybe the moneypox one will do the trick.” Others, like on 4chan, claimed the Mpox outbreak was deliberately timed to coincide with the U.S. election, saying “When monkeypox doesn’t work, and it won’t, they will circle back to covid. Election variant. They need one.” Homophobic users blamed “sodomites” for the outbreak in posts which also spread conspiracies about vaccinations, showcasing a prominent overlap between bigoted worldviews and adherence to conspiracy theories.
Following Sweden’s confirmed Mpox case, one commenter said that, “Sweden is basically Africa now” and others claimed that mainstream media, such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), were “ramping up hysteria with the Mpox narrative.” Some of these comments intertwined hateful rhetoric with anti-immigrant sentiment, insinuating that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be questioned on “how many immigrants he plans to bring in from the Congo where the monkey pox (sic) has been prevalent for many years.” Commenters concerned with American politics insinuated that the upcoming Democratic National Convention would be the “perfect place to contract Donkeypox” since “filthy sex-crazed Democrats are always spreading STDs.” This post used the hashtag #kamalaharris, further pushing the far-right’s sexist agenda and online dehumanization of Harris and women in politics.
On Telegram, a largely unmoderated platform akin to WhatsApp, bigoted and conspiratorial posts rose 770 percent from August 13 to 15. Like on Gab, Telegram channels and commenters committed to spreading conspiratorial rhetoric about the origins of Mpox, questioning whether or not it’s “real,” and claiming that Mpox is being used to push for more vaccines and the limitations of civil liberties. Similarly to when the COVID pandemic broke out, users were claiming that the “new pandemic just dropped” just “on time for the election” and called it the “election flu.” Others claimed that Mpox will “[bring] more government control,” calling it a “#scamdemic,” which was used to describe the COVID-19 pandemic, and claiming that “mpox is manufactured.” Anti-LGBTQ+ commenters tried to push a narrative that members of that community were intentionally infecting children with Mpox. Other comments combined all forms of racism, bigotry, and conspiracism, such as saying that there’s an elaborate international conspiracy to “inject bioweapon(s)” into people through the COVID-19 vaccines, “flood” Western countries with Ukrainians and Muslims, and then “declare Mpox Pandemic” after “expressions from the bioweapon in 2021 culminate,” a reference to the supposed widespread “vaccine injuries” resulting from the COVID-19 vaccines.
On communities.win, bigotry and conspiracist posts and comments rose 1,556 percent from August 13 to August 15. Anti-LGBTQ+ hate has spread like wildfire on the platform over the past few days, especially through the targeting of politicians. For example, one user commented “enjoy the sodomite boils, demoncrats (sic),” while another claimed that Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who is openly gay, is “spreading his monkeypox.” Most other comments were hateful towards the LGBTQ+ community, such as saying that “gay sex in the Western World” would be responsible for the spread of Mpox, calling gay people “excellent disease vectors because of their promiscuity,” and hoping that “f*****s get AIDS and monkeypox.”
On the Fediverse, short for “federated universe,” which is a “collection of community owned, ad-free, decentralized, and privacy-centric social networks,” including the hate-infested Poast forums, hateful and conspiratorial rhetoric regarding Mpox rose by 183 percent from August 13 to 15, with an initial spike of over 400 percent from August 13 to 14. Like on Gab, users labeled the DNC as “the perfect place” to contract Mpox and a potential “superspreader event” because of “sex-crazed Democrats.” Homophobic users called Mpox “buttsexpox” and a “f*g disease.” One antisemitic comment said, “(((WHO))) orders govt’s to prepare for a mega lockdown.” The brackets around “WHO” are called echoes, which are used by antisemites in far-right spaces to signify people or organizations believed to be Jewish, and thus evil.
In the comment sections of the video-hosting platform Rumble, hateful and conspiratorial comments related to Mpox rose 71 percent from August 13 to 15, with an initial spike of 652 percent from August 13 to 14. Election-related conspiracism was common on Rumble, with people saying that it’s “interesting it’s happening around election time” and “democrats stole that last election with the China flu and the clot shot. Mpox should also work for stealing the next election.” Homophobic comments, like on the other platforms, blamed the LGBTQ+ community for spreading Mpox, which was referred to by some as “GayPox.” One violent comment about the Mpox outbreak, coinciding with conspiracy theories about the WHO, read, “All you monsters at who, MS, WEF, and all the demonic tyrannical governments will suffer the most agonizing death and eternity known to history!”
On Truth Social, bigoted and conspiratorial posts and comments rose 1,525 percent from August 13 to August 15, with an initial spike of a staggering 2,875 percent. Commenters were spreading conspiracies about the timing of the Mpox outbreak with the upcoming American elections, calling Kamala Harris the “monkeypox czar,” a reference to those who labeled her as the “border czar,” and alleging that she is spreading the disease. Others claimed that the DNC will be “the perfect place” to contract Mpox. Other comments were related to vaccinations, spreading similar conspiracies about pharmaceutical companies manufacturing Mpox in order to sell their vaccines, and also wondering how “the government [will] weaponize” Mpox.
