A conspiracy theory linking 5G internet with the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in arson attacks on more than 70 cellphone towers in the U.K.
The weird theory started gaining traction in the country in late March and early April, which has coincided with the spike of infected individuals. However, conspiracies around mobile networks have been in existence for years. The vandalism of mobile towers is the effect of misinformation, which many residents of the U.K. fell to.
Mobile UK on April 15 revealed that approximately 50 phone towers had been attacked across the country -- most of them weren't even 5G masts. In an interview on Wednesday, the organization reported that the number has risen to 77. Thankfully, the rate of attacks has been slowing.
But to anti-5G groups, burning cell towers isn't enough. According to the CEO of British telecommunication company BT Philip Jansen, one of its engineers had been violently harassed in public while conducting maintenance.
"We have 40 incidents where people have attacked, either physically or verbally, our staff," Jansen said. "We've had engineers being driven at by people and swerve away at the last minute, and we've even had one Openreach engineer stabbed and put in hospital."
The vandalism of mobile towers and harassment of engineers has been condemned by mobile operators in the U.K. According to Mobile U.K., theories linking the coronavirus with 5G are "baseless."
On social media, conspiracy theorists are a dime a dozen, prompting Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to make more stringent protocols in content moderation. One offshoot of the theory claims that 5G accelerates the spread of the virus by lowering the body's immune system and that the coronavirus is itself a fiction designed to cover up damage being done by 5G. Both these claims are false.
The coronavirus 5G conspiracy theory has misled many people into believing made up stories, which makes the pandemic worse. Full Fact tried to debunk the theory and found that it may have started on a certain Facebook post claiming that Wuhan, China -- where the coronavirus outbreak originated -- is also where 5G began to roll out. The post made references to the pre-existing conspiracy theory that 5G stunts a person's immune system.
There is no evidence suggesting that Wuhan was the very first Chinese city to start rolling out 5G. Full Fact noted that multiple cities have actually piloted the technology, with South Korea being considered the first to do so.
