The original version of this post was written by Rhoda Kwan and published in Hong Kong Free Press on August 11, 2021. The following version was edited is published by Global Voices under a content partnership agreement with HKFP. Several Chinese state media outlets have scrubbed references to a Swiss biologist ‘Wilson Edwards’ from articles published in recent weeks. The move comes after the Swiss embassy issued a statement on August 10 saying no Swiss citizen by the name of Wilson Edwards exists, and no academic articles had been written by any biologist with that name. The Swiss embassy’s statement read, In the last several days, a large number of press articles and social media posts citing an alleged Swiss biologist have been published in China. While we appreciate the attention on our country, the Embassy of Switzerland must, unfortunately, inform the Chinese public that this news is false. A screenshot of the now-deleted ‘Wilson Edwards’ Facebook page via HKFP. In a Facebook post from July 24, an account under the name ‘Wilson Edwards’ claimed to have witnessed the US attempting to ‘politicize’ the World Health Organization's (WHO) continuing efforts to uncover the origins of the coronavirus. The ‘biologist’ said, I have the impression that WHO’s new plans, which include lab audits, are largely politically motivated… The WHO sources told me that the U.S is so obsessed with attacking China on the origin-tracing issue that it is reluctant to open its eyes to the data and findings. It also questioned the international health body’s independence, accusing the US of attempting to place its own experts on the team responsible for the second phase of the probe. The post also quoted a ‘source’ as saying that US President Biden would ‘spare no effort’ to ‘rebuild US influence in the organization’ and ‘seek to dominate key issues.’ While the fictitious account has been removed from Facebook, the post is accessible on a Twitter account attributed to ‘Wilson Edwards': #COVID19 #COVID19nsw @WHO @DrTedros @FauciFan As scientific issues continue to be politicized, I have no doubt that this advisory group would be succumbed to a political tool. https://t.co/zjYDZcQLhm pic.twitter.com/i4rYkzAv2m — WilsonEdwards (@WilsonE84957402) July 24, 2021 @ZhaoyinFeng, a reporter from BBC, pointed out quotes from ‘Wilson Edwards’ first appeared in a news outlet Voice of South Pacific owned by Beijing Zhong Xin Chinese Media Service Company, which publishes news stories about Fiji: Voice of South Pacific 南太之声 news app published an English article quoting Edwards’ Facebook post on July 27, three days before Chinese state media China News Service reported on the claims. VSP’s report didn’t cite an author but listed an editor called “GAVIN”. pic.twitter.com/J8ylf9zIlm — Zhaoyin Feng 馮兆音 (@ZhaoyinFeng) August 10, 2021 The claims were later picked up by Chinese state media, including People’s Daily, China Daily, Global Times, and CGTN, which all accused the US of politically manipulating the WHO’s probe into the origins of COVID-19. One week after the original post, People’s Daily published an opinion article with the headline, ‘US attempts to overturn report, leveraging WHO into political tool: Swiss biologist’. The Swiss embassy also pointed that the ‘Wilson Edwards’ Facebook account was created on the same day of the post and only had three friends: ‘It is likely that this Facebook account was not opened for social networking purposes’, said their statement. It also called on the Chinese press and netizens to take down posts featuring the disputed biologist, saying it is likely a case of ‘fake news’. Looking for Wilson Edwards, alleged ?? biologist, cited in press and social media in China over the last several days. If you exist, we would like to meet you! But it is more likely that this is a fake news, and we call on the Chinese press and netizens to take down the posts. pic.twitter.com/U6ku5EGibm — Embassy of Switzerland in Beijing (@SwissEmbChina) August 10, 2021 Earlier this year, a team of WHO experts carried out a probe in Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected. The investigation report said the theory that the virus leaked from a lab was ‘unlikely’. However, critics have questioned whether China granted the team full access to the available data. Beijing has since rejected plans for the second phase of the probe. As of August 11, CGTN, People’s Daily, and China Daily all appeared to have removed references to Edwards from their articles, while the Global Times removed an article by CGTN from its site altogether. The removed article, entitled ‘Covid-19 origin tracing: Claim emerges of “intimidation” from the US,’ was last accessible on the Global Times on Tuesday afternoon.