Conspiracy theories posted on Facebook and other social media are blaming 5G masts for the spread of Coronavirus, even going as far to blame the rollout of 5th Generation wireless data technology as causing the symptoms of the virus and killing people. Several 5G masts (in Birmingham, Liverpool and Melling) have already been set alight, with further incidents at undisclosed locations.
This deliberate misinformation has even lead to workers rolling out 5G telecoms equipment to be harassed in the street:
Many of these ridiculous claims stem from the fact that Wuhan province rolled out 5G technology at a similar date to the start of the crisis. Some pseudoscience and heavy imagination have then resulted to conspiracy theories getting out of hand:
As incredible as it may sound, these conspiracy theories have gotten so out of hand that UK MP Michael Gove even had to address this issue during the daily COVID19 briefings:
If people continue to deliberately damage telecoms equipment like this, not only will it endanger lives and cost money, but it will limit one of the only means of people communicating at a time when many of us are locked indoors for an indeterminate amount of time.
This deliberate misinformation has even lead to workers rolling out 5G telecoms equipment to be harassed in the street:
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— Twitter API (@user) date
Many of these ridiculous claims stem from the fact that Wuhan province rolled out 5G technology at a similar date to the start of the crisis. Some pseudoscience and heavy imagination have then resulted to conspiracy theories getting out of hand:
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
As incredible as it may sound, these conspiracy theories have gotten so out of hand that UK MP Michael Gove even had to address this issue during the daily COVID19 briefings:
If people continue to deliberately damage telecoms equipment like this, not only will it endanger lives and cost money, but it will limit one of the only means of people communicating at a time when many of us are locked indoors for an indeterminate amount of time.
