Since wireless communication first began being developed in 1979 with the first generation 1G, we have progressed over the years to 2G, 3G, 4G, and now, 5G. With the last few new generation updates, there have been theories and conspiracies linking them to health issues. With 3G, in 2003, it was SARS. When 4G was being implemented in 2009, conspiracy theories linked it to swine flu. And finally, during the current global pandemic, conspiracists are linking COVID-19 to 5G.
The theories generally promote one of the following arguments: 5G weakens the immune system and therefore leads to COVID-19, the droplets by which the coronavirus travels are spread by 5G airwaves, or the coronavirus pandemic is a cover for the effects of 5G exposure.
From attacks on telecoms workers and telecommunication towers being set on fire in the U.K, Belgium, and the Netherlands, these theories have gone viral online, and are resulting in offline consequences.
But where did the theory begin? According to Vox, Zignal Labs, an impact intelligence platform that studies online discourse, identified a tweet made on the 19th January 2020. The user retweeted a Russia Today article about a new, flu-like virus in China, adding:
Wuhan has 5,000+ #5G base stations now and 50,000 by 2021 — is it a disease or 5G?
Although this seems to be where the theory first came from, it gained little traction. It wasn’t until two months later when celebrities started tweeting and posting about it too that the story began to spread across social media.
Theories suggesting health problems caused by 5G did not only start this year, however, and can be traced back to 2018.
There is absolutely no scientific evidence to prove the link between 5G and COVID-19. Nor was there any evidence that linked 3G to SARS, or 4G to swine flu. Although they were rolled out at similar times, their start dates do not match. On top of this, there are several countries in which 5G has not been rolled out at all, and yet COVID-19 is present, such as South America.
But, seeing as the issue of equating new types of technologies to health problems has been around for many years, it is unlikely that these types of conspiracy theories will be going anywhere any time soon. For now, we must ensure to check the facts, follow the science, and prevent the spread of disinformation.