Conspiracy theory-fueled opposition to 5G network technology percolated online for years. Then the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak hit, sparking 5G arson attacks across Europe.
Hanna Linderstål wanted to see how deep the rabbit hole of anti-5G theories would go.
The Stockholm-based researcher had been studying online groups opposed to the new technology for years. Then she watched as the movement reached a tipping point earlier this year amid the coronavirus outbreak — spilling into criminality with a spate of arson attacks against telecom masts. In the space of just a couple of weeks, more than 60 masts have been hit by arson attacks in the U.K.… On the Continent, the Netherlands is the hardest-hit country with 22 arson attacks and three attempted attacks linked to 5G concerns.
The outrage behind these attacks — fear that 5G radiation causes health problems — has been bubbling away on the internet ever since the technology became viable. But it was only this year, when anti-5G groups started spreading rumors that the technology had caused the coronavirus outbreak, that things turned ugly…
The European Commission says on its website that “there is no connection between 5G and COVID-19,” and cites “no evidence that 5G is harmful to people’s health.”
MacDailyNews Take: History tends to repeat; first with radio, then with cellular, then with each new wave 3G, 4G, and, now, 5G. Even without longterm studies, we’ll go out on a limb: 5G doesn’t cause COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 does. Please do not commit arson as we’re going to need those towers for our 5G iPhones later this year, not to mention that it’s a crime that could prove deadly!