Coronavirus does not only infect humans, but it also disrupts businesses, especially in 5G technology. Due to false reports claiming that 5G technology could cause the spread of COVID-19, a few citizens in the United Kingdom have resorted to burning down 5G stations to stop the virus. Why did it come to this?
Why are 5G stations being burned in the UK? People say they cause Coronavirus
According to a report by the BBC, there have been cases of 5G stations worth $57,000 being burned down in several areas of the country after false reports of an alleged connection of the technology with the increased spread of the Coronavirus. U.K. authorities have seen massive fire cases in Birmingham, Liverpool, and Melling in Merseyside within last week.
A video of citizens burning down a station in Aigburth -- which is now deleted -- was circulating in U.K. social media this past weekend. In Birmingham, police said that the tower that was burned down had a height of 70 feet. Police authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the involvement of false 5G tech rumors as the main reason why these people attacked the towers.
5G and Coronavirus: How did this theory start?
As early as March, false stories about 5G tech's involvement with the Coronavirus were already being spread all over the world. Tech Times reported on Mar. 9 the main cause why people tend to believe this theory:
One of The Verge's senior editor Tom Warren shared on Twitter, a video of an "unidentified doctor'' who claimed to discover the connection between the two.
5G causes coronavirus because it’s sucking the oxygen out of your lungs, according to a video being spread on Facebook. I want to but the fact people believe this bullshit is genuinely scary pic.twitter.com/kY3g5MJtu9 — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) March 3, 2020
In the U.K., a Facebook group named "Stop 5G UK" claimed that the technology weakens the immune system of a person -- making them more prone to viral disease.
"What if all we are seeing in Wuhan is a sickness from exposure to excessive 5G radiation, and weakened immune systems?," claimed by a Facebook post in the group.
There is no connection between the Coronavirus and 5G technology
The country's National Health Service (NHS) already debunked this rumor.
As said by their director Stephen Powis, "I'm absolutely outraged and disgusted that people would be taking action against the infrastructure we need to tackle this emergency. This is not acceptable and only impacts on our ability as an industry to maintain the resilience and operational capacity of the networks to support mass home working and critical connectivity to the emergency services, vulnerable consumers and hospitals."
YouTube stops releasing videos related to 5G and the Coronavirus
Meanwhile, The Guardian earlier reported that YouTube is now taking steps to take down videos claiming 5G's false relation to Coronavirus.
All videos relating to these kinds of videos will be automatically removed from the search results. Other videos about the 5G conspiracy may still be uploaded on the platform -- but mentioning of the Coronavirus together without is not allowed anymore.
