The Connection Between 5G Network and Coronavirus
Will Kozmetsky & Rachel Patton
The “5G network — Covid-19” conspiracy is a multifaceted theory that illustrates the dangers of conspiracy thinking. A conspiracy theory is a plot conducted by a small group of highly influential individuals that intend to affect the world with an underlying sinister intent (Rosenblum, & Muirhead, 2019). We explore the spiraling effects of theorized fears of technology during a global pandemic, which created ample time for people to forage through the internet and social media in search of information to quell fears and explain the virus. Generalized anxiety paired with an urgent need for information creates an ideal environment for conspiracy theorists to spread misinformation and expand their base. Covid-19 distress served as the optimal event for 5G oppositionists to seed doubt about the harmful effects of the newest form of wireless mobile network technology. While the 5G’s connection to Covid-19 has produced an array of diverging theories, the underlying commonality is that the technology is bad and that some small corrupt group of elites is targeting the general population’s health to inflict harm.
Origin of Theory
As generations of new technology are developed, people are increasingly concerned with exposure safety. Since the invention of the radio in 1890, coincidentally, just prior to the Spanish Flu in 1918, concerns have circulated around the negative effect of technology on health. These concerns continued through the 20th Century into the present. Now, with at least 95% of American adults using cell phones, researchers have prioritized examining the effects of long-term exposure to these radio frequencies. Dr. Martin Pall, a professor of Biochemistry and Medical Sciences at Washington State University, wrote a paper in 2018 about the general harmful effects of 5G radiation (Pall, 2018). Later that year, the National Toxicology Program conducted research that concluded there is evidence that male rats exposed to the radiation used in 2G and 3G cell phones developed cancerous tumors in their hearts. Conspiracy theorists abuse this distant relationship to disseminate further fear of technology. There is no scientific evidence that 5G has negative consequences on human health (Hern, 2019). However, fear of the unknown allows misinformation and groupthink to contrive a fanciful narrative.
Coronavirus Evolves Existing Theory
The rampant spread of Coronavirus became what is known in conspiracy research as a “focusing event” (Bucy, 2022), hot spots for conspiracy thinking. Dr. Pall’s research was at the forefront of the charge, posting on social media and giving guest lectures that accused the government of dismissing health concerns. As his fallacious ideas about 5G cell towers gained traction, celebrities such as Grammy Award-Winning singer Keri Hilson began posting warnings to millions of followers about 5G on Instagram and Twitter. Social media provides a platform for individuals to make connections, gain inspiration, and express themselves.
The side-effects, however, are that unqualified people are given substantial audiences to propagate information without authenticity. The primary platforms initially spreading the theory, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, actively worked to combat the misinformation by deplatforming users and deleting posts. Unfortunately, the damage had been done, and the message had already reached millions. The reach of Dr. Pall’s false claims that cell tower roll out directly correlated with the spread of Coronavirus amassed such concern that the testaments were heard before and discredited by the United Kingdom Parliament. Conspiracy thinkers do not consider information censorship as fighting misinformation but rather a confirmation that The Powerful want to hide the truth.
Peak Circulation of Theory
By April of 2020, this theory had evolved exponentially. The Covid-19 pandemic brought global insecurity about what the virus is, how it started, and how it will be fixed. Once the 5G Coronavirus connection was circulated, it spiraled to serve a multitude of diverging theories. Anti-5G protests and Facebook groups began to emerge, rallying more people with every event or post. While many people were concerned about cell phone radiation before, some believed that the virus was actually not a virus but that people were simply succumbing to 5G radiation. Others believed that 5G radiation was not causing the virus but instead was contributing to how fast the virus was spreading or how lethal it was to the population.
An alternate theory rooted in decades of vaccine distrust is that the virus was made as a premeditated plot for vaccine mandates that would implant microchips into our bodies (BBC Stories, 2020). The belief is that it is part of an effort by a small government or elites, such as Bill Gates, to achieve global control. The Journal of Medical Internet Research conducted a study that examined how many times Coronavirus and 5G were tweeted about together. The results showed that in just seven days, from March 27 to April 4, 10,140 tweets were posted (Ahmed, et al., 2020). Regardless if intention was avid spread, humorous entertainment, or ignorant commentary, people were talking about #5GCoronavirus. The World Health Organization and other officials worked to provide scientific evidence discrediting the entire 5G narrative, but once established, it is extremely difficult to unbelieve the unbelievable.
How it Spiraled Out of Control
Conspiracy theories only need fragments of legitimate information to form a foundation, because once doubt is cast there is a capacity for the unnatural leap to a conclusion. This leap is what distinguishes an evidence-based theory from a conspiracy theory (Rosenblum, & Muirhead, 2019). Making such a leap may be frequent for the career conspiracist, but the fear and the need for information during the pandemic could be the catalyst for a rational person to make the jump as well. Health issues increase sensitivity, and technology is often mystifying, so allowing confirmation bias to ease one’s fears is an understandable reaction (Oliver & Wood, 2018). Unfortunately, conspiracy theories are increasingly moving toward violent action and away from being a mere theoretical coping style.
Beginning with organized group protest, the believers issued a call to action against the most tangible embodiment of 5G they could think of, 5G cell towers. Facebook groups, Twitter users, and YouTube videos served as a launchpad for #burn5G, #burn5Gtowers, #kill5G trends, but more extremist conversations took place on “conspiracy theory websites” such as InfoWars. By May 2020, over 80 5G cell towers had been vandalized or destroyed (Satariano, et al., 2020). The audience amassed during the early stages of the pandemic, whether joking or not, gave the theories legitimacy through relevance. 5G Covid-19 conspiracies appealed to a wide range of conspiracy roots: radiation/technology hesitancy, vaccine hesitancy, and, of course, general government distrust.
The intuitionism or symbolic thinking that is characteristic of conspiracy theorists explains why 5G theories will continue to resurface despite extensive efforts to abolish concern. Symbolic thought has the potential to be extremely harmful to society because it allows for submission to outlandish narratives without fact or evidence (Oliver & Wood, 2018). Until the next novel technology is developed, 5G represents a concealed, inconceivable force whose “mystery” serves as an opportunity for conspiracy theorists to cast doubt on a vulnerable community. The 5G Covid-19 conspiracy theory illustrates how diverging beliefs can arise from a common fear. Ultimately, the goal for conspiracy theorists remains to combat and exploit covert, powerful institutions responsible for conspiring against “us.”
References
Ahmed, W., Vidal-Alaball, J., Downing, J., & López Seguí, F. (2020). Covid-19 and the
5G conspiracy theory: Social Network Analysis of Twitter data. Journal of Medical
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BBC Stories. (2020). Viral: The 5G Conspiracy Theory. YouTube. Retrieved March 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi5dOvlMCgE.
Bucy, E. (2022, February). Visual Framing of Coronavirus Coverage. Lecture, University of Texas at Austin; Austin, Texas.
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Hern, A. (2019, July 26). How baseless fears over 5G rollout created a health scare. The Guardian. Retrieved March 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/26/how-baseless-fears-over-5g-rollout-created-a-health-scare
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Pall, M. L. (2018). (rep.). 5G: Great risk for EU, U.S. and International Health. Retrieved from https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/105111823620505/STUDY%205G%20Great%20risk%2C%20Martin%20Pall%2C%208%20Types%20of%20Harm%20-%20EU-EMF2018–6-11US3.doc%20-%205g-emf-hazards — dr-martin-l.-pall — eu-emf2018–6–11us3.pdf.
Rosenblum, N. & Muirhead, R. (2019). A lot of people are saying: The new conspiracism and the assault on democracy. Princeton University Press.
Satariano, A., & Alba, D. (2020, April 10). Burning cell towers, out of baseless fear they spread the virus. The New York Times. Retrieved March 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/technology/coronavirus-5g-uk.html
