Yan Limeng was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hong Kong and fled to the United States in April this year. In an interview with The Washington Post, she admitted that online science sites are vulnerable to abuse, but she denied that her story is a case study on this issue.
Online research databases have become a key forum for revealing and discussing epidemics. In order to advance science more flexibly, they have been at the forefront of reporting discoveries about masks, vaccines, and new coronavirus variants. But these sites lack the traditional — slow — protection inherent in the world of peer-reviewed scientific journals, where articles are published only after being criticized by other scientists. Studies have shown that papers posted on the website may also be hijacked, thereby contributing to conspiracy theories.
In her paper published by Zenodo, Yan Limeng did not list academic institutions in accordance with research conventions. Instead, she listed the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation, two New York-based nonprofit organizations founded by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. Guo Wengui is a close partner of Bannon. In 2018, Bannon was announced as the chairman of the Society for the Rule of Law. In August of this year, Bannon was on a 150-foot yacht in Guochuan off the coast of Connecticut when he was arrested on fraud charges. (President Donald Trump pardoned his former campaign chairman and White House chief strategist Bannon last month).
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