It is not entirely clear when and how the coronavirus began. But if there's something people know for sure, it did not result from 5G wireless technology as scientists have found absolutely no evidence linking COVID-19 to 5G.
However, there are still many who believe it.
Learning Where the 5G Conspiracy Begun
With that, four experts decided to take it upon themselves to get to the bottom of things and know where the theory all began and how it got massive, namely Marc Tuters, an assistant professor of new media and digital culture from the University of Amsterdam along with Peter Knight, a professor of American studies at the University of Manchester.
With them are Joseph Downing, a nationalism research fellow from the London School of Economics and Wasim Ahmed, a lecturer in digital business at Newcastle University.
According to StopFake.org, there are several versions of the 5G conspiracy theory, each with their own details and each more implausible than the other.
However, the first one said that it was not a coincidence that the coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China, as it was also where 5G technology was trialed--but that already proved to be false as 5G was already being rolled out in several places.
There is even one theory that wireless technology directly transmits COVID-19.
Another suggested that elites like Bill Gates have planned the global pandemic to cause a need for vaccination, where they could insert chips and then activated by the 5G waves.
Read Also : Here are Telltale Signs of a Conspiracy Theory
Recycled Theories
There are tons and tons of theories online, but according to Tuters and Knight, some of them are new, while most of them are nothing but mutations of existing theories that are made relevant through current themes.
For example, the 5G conspiracy theories have similarities with about a 1990 theory about HAARP, which is a large radio transmitter, which conspiracy theorists believe is nothing but a weapon for weather and mind control.
So, basically, many of these theories are nothing new and are only recycled materials from past fake news.
How it Trended
Meanwhile, Ahmed and Downing led a study that was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research regarding how the 5G conspiracy theory trended.
"The 5G and COVID-19 conspiracy theory became a trending topic on Twitter, which we saw, and this initially sparked our interest in the subject," Ahmed explained.
And so, the two decided to analyze Twitter data that included the keyword "5Gcoronavirus" as well as the hashtag #5GCoronavirus over a period of seven days back when it was trending in the United Kingdom from March 27 to April 4 of this year.
The analysis showed a total of 10,140 tweets from 6,556 Twitter users.
According to the PsyPost, only 35% of the people who tweeted about it were in support of the COVID-19 theory, while 32% of them denounced and mocked it, bringing unintentional attention to the theory and making it trend.
Thus, the theory has garnered more public attention making it easy for theorists worldwide to share.
