Due to conspiracy theories spreading on social networks about the connection between 5G network deployment and the coronavirus aka COVID-19 pandemic, in Britain, unidentified people began to set fire to operator towers. According to the BBC , last week arson attacks were recorded in Liverpool, Eigburg, Birmingham and the village of Melling near Sefton, Merseyside. However, not all equipment destroyed due to arson is even connected with 5G. In particular, the British operator EE confirmed to The Verge that a tower lit up in Birmingham, which provided 2G, 3G and 4G communications.
The source of misinformation was groups on social networks, in particular on Facebook, in which the theory that a new coronavirus appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan turned out to be quite popular because it began to deploy a 5G network there at the beginning of the year and supposedly now a new generation of mobile Internet is spreading coronavirus. Proponents of this conspiracy theory believe that electromagnetic radiation suppresses the human immune system, thereby helping viruses and bacteria enter the body.
The UK Department of Culture, Media, and Sports (DCMS) said on Twitter that “there is absolutely no reliable evidence of a link between 5G and coronavirus,” sharing a link to official sources and disinformation from an independent fact-checking organization Full Fact.
Moreover, at the moment no scientifically based fact could link the spread of a new coronavirus (or any other virus) with the networks of mobile operators, including 5G.
