Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory: Why Do Some Believe 5G Is To Blame?

Since its inception, 5G wireless data has drawn pushback from activists and conspiracy theorists who argued that the high-frequency communications network could damage to humans and the environment, based largely on pseudo-science and superstition.

Now, many are attempting to blame the creation and vast spread of the COVID-19 pandemic on the next-generation wireless technology. The conspiracy has begun to gain more of a foothold in the public conversation, with a handful of major public figures, like actor Woody Harrelson, promoting it.

Some, however, are now arguing that the idea has been pushed by a coordinated disinformation campaign. Bloomberg cited research done by online disinformation expert Marc Owen Jones, who found a strong prevalence of “inauthentic activity” in roughly 22,000 tweets mentioning the terms “corona” and “5G.” Jones believes that these posts are consistent with state-backed campaigns, like the Russian initiative to interfere with the 2016 U.S. elections.

“There are very strong indications that some of these accounts are a disinformation operation,” Jones said.

Bloomberg also cited Blackbird.AI, a New York firm that tracks online disinformation. Blackbird.AI has also noted a “significant uptick in inauthentic amplification” of 5G-coronavirus conspiracy content on social media. The company theorizes that bot accounts may be in use to spread these claims, but it also notes that it is unclear who might be coordinating this campaign.

The 5G conspiracy is certainly not the first one to be drummed-up in connection to the ongoing pandemic. Infamously, President Trump and his supporters attempted to label the situation as a hoax perpetuated by Democrats to hurt his reelection chances. Conservative pundit Josh Bernstein even went so far as to claim that Democrats coordinated with China to release the virus.

In a similar vein, one of the major early conspiracies about COVID-19 claimed that it was a “biological weapon” created by the Chinese government at the Wuhan Institute for Virology. Adherents to this theory insist that the spread of the disease came after it was leaked from the institute, either by mistake or on purpose.