Truth decayAustralian Investigators Debunk 5G-COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory
One of the more bizarre conspiracy theories recently created is the one claiming a connection between 5G technology and the virus. Believers argue that that either 5G was responsible for coronavirus, due to the construction of 5G networks in Wuhan, or for “poisoning cells” which created coronavirus. An Australian parliamentary investigation has now debunked this particular piece of misinformation.
Areport issued by an Australian parliamentary committee has debunked a conspiracy theory linking COVID-19 to 5G technology. Anti-lockdown protesters in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries have claimed that there is a connection between the new coronavirus and the rollout of the mobile communications standard.
“Community confidence in 5G has been shaken by extensive misinformation preying on the fears of the public spread via the internet, and presented as facts, particularly through social media,” the report said.
“The communication of the reality of 5G has been neglected, allowing fears over health and safety, the technology involved and the application of 5G to take hold. Misinformation has filled the vacuum and public confidence in 5G has been shaken.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought disparate groups of conspiracy theorists together – anti-vaxxers, anti-Semites, believers in a nefarious “deep state,” and more. Anti-vaxxers have now become a dominant force among the anti-lockdown in several countries, arguing that the disease was deliberately created and spread around the world by financiers in an effort to force vaccines on to the population as a form of control – and make money in the process.
Others claim that the coronavirus was developed in a Chinese biolab as a bioweapon – but that the virus either escaped or was released deliberately by China. Other assert that a Harvard University professor was arrested for creating and selling the coronavirus to China.
And then there those who insists that the real cause of the epidemic is 5G technology. This particular fantasy was first promoted in a social media video in March and has been shared widely on the internet.
The 5G conspiracy theory which it the internet in March claimed that either 5G was responsible for coronavirus, due to the construction of 5G networks in Wuhan, or for “poisoning cells” that created coronavirus.
The misinformation has been widely spread on Facebook, in particular – a video went viral in which a man claiming to be a former Vodafone executive warned the pandemic was a global plot to install 5G and track the population through vaccines.
In reality, the Guardian revealed, the voice on the tape making the baseless claims is an evangelical pastor who had only worked in sales for Vodafone for less than a year in 2014.
Several mobile towers in the U.K. have been attacked by people as a result of the misinformation, and telecoms workers have reported being harassed by members of the public.
The Guardian reports that investigators for the Australian Parliament’s Communication Committee unequivocally assert that linking the new coronavirus to radio waves categorically false. The report found that 5G technology was safe. E-communications experts said linking COVID-19 to radio waves “has no basis in science” and is “biologically and physically impossible.”
Scientists said that the it is nonsensical to claim that 5G radiation is in any way linked to COVID-19 because 5G radiation cannot penetrate skin or allow a virus to penetrate skin.
Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, has also dismissed a link between 5G networks and the disease.
“There is unfortunately a lot of very silly misinformation out there,” Murphy said. “There is absolutely no evidence about 5G doing anything in the coronavirus space. I have unfortunately received a lot of communication from these conspiracy theorists myself. It is complete nonsense. 5G has got nothing at all to do with coronavirus.”
Academics say that fake news and misinformation seem to be spreading as fast and as far as the virus itself. Uncertainty and fear breed confusion and anxiety, and, as one expert said, “conspiracy theories offer an emotionally satisfying narrative” if even they are not true.
Social media platforms say they try to manage the avalanche of lies and misinformation swirling around the coronavirus. YouTube has said it will do more to remove content linking 5G technology to COVID-19.
