With the roll-out of 5G technology in Europe, it was almost inevitable that online conspiracy theories around the new hi-speed internet network would start to spread.

However, particularly outlandish claims made about the rollout of 5G networks in Europe have led to serious impacts in the real world: there have been scores of reports of 5G towers being sabotaged across the continent, believed to be inspired by rumors circulating on the Internet around 5G. 

With some of the conspiracies even linking the internet technology to the spread of COVID-19, the question is, why have these theories captured the imagination of so many people and what is being done to stop the advance of some dangerous ideas?

Read more: France says no evidence COVID-19 linked to Wuhan research lab

What is the conspiracy theory?

The 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory first started to gain traction online in early January 2020, with COVID-19 'truthers' attempting to "connect the dots": the fact that the research center for Huawei - the Chinese company leading 5G research - is located in Wuhan, the same city where the disease is thought to have originated, or that the outbreak coincided with the roll-out of 5G.

Such theories were promoted on anti-5G Facebook groups and other social media sites, some of which have had tens of thousands of members. Typical posts include pictures purporting to show 5G engineers wearing Hazmat suits and YouTube videos claiming to "expose the lies of the official narratives" around COVID-19 and 5G.

Read more: UK allows China's Huawei limited access to 5G network

Some Twitter users have even gone so far as to claim that Britain's new 20-pound bank note, launched on February 20, bears an image of a 5G mobile tower, as well as a symbol that purportedly represents the COVID-19 virus.

The conspiracy theories linking the technology and COVID-19 are consistent with internet chatter about a conspiracy related to the roll-out of 5G which pre-date the disease's spread. 

Typical posts on anti-5G Facebook pages prior to the outbreak include photos claiming to show animals dying in close proximity to 5G telecommunications towers and the repeated assertion that the masts produce radiation that is dangerous to human health.

Debunking the myth

In response to the spread of the conspiracy theories around 5G, international medical bodies have released public statements negating any connection between the technology and damage to public health.

After a seven-year-long scientific study, the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) found no evidence to suggest that 5G technologies pose a risk to human health. 

The World Health Organization used its 'Myth Busters' page, to post a sharable image refuting the conspiracy linking 5G and coronavirus that reads: "Viruses cannot travel on radio waves/mobile networks. COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not have 5G mobile networks."

Christopher Coleman, an assistant professor of infection immunology at Nottingham University in the UK, reiterates the WHO's guidance: 

"There's no way that 5G might act as a way of transmitting the virus. It's a physical thing that infects us. It's not like a wind that blows things around. It is not derived from an energy source in any way like [a 5G network]. You can't create matter from energy in that way, except on Star Trek maybe," he adds.

However, Coleman is sympathetic to why people might be convinced by outlandish explanations as to the causes of the virus:

"As silly as it is that this sort of thing is around, we don't know all of the details about where this virus comes from and how it spreads and who's susceptible and all the rest of it. So it's easy to look for explanations in the easiest explanation."

Reality bites

However, the threat has been very real, enough to prompt the European Commission to echo the WHO's guidance in their own statement as Europe readies to roll out 5G technology. 

Over 50 attacks on 5G masts have been reported around the UK alone, with similar acts of sabotage reported elsewhere on the continent: the Netherlands has recorded 11 attacks on their masts and Cyprus has summoned 18 people for questioning over incitement to vandalism related to a network tower.

Following a series of attacks, the Dutch government's Security and Counter-Terrorism (NCTV) reported it had registered "various incidents" around broadcasting masts, including arson and sabotage, and that opposition to the 5G rollout was a possible cause.

They cited serious concerns about the impact of such actions on standard telecommunications networks and reachability of emergency services.

Read more: Huawei: Disrupting 5G rollout would be 'disservice' to Britain

In the UK, Vodafone reported 20 of its UK masts had been targeted by arsonists over the UK Easter holiday. Britain's biggest telecoms company BT, and the owner of the EE mobile network which is helping to erect the 5G network in the UK, reported 22 attacks on its sites.

Vodafone's UK Chief Executive Nick Jeffery said one of the sites that was attacked provided connections to the new Nightingale hospital set up inside Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre (NEC) to treat COVID-19 patients. According to Vodafone, the site provided 2G, 3G and 4G services to thousands of people, but did not have 5G capability.

Companies involved in upgrading mobile phone masts in the UK have even taken to hitting back on social media, such as OpenReach, which has resorted to posting in anti-5G social media group, hoping to dissuade people from sabotaging the masts and harassing their staff:

"We've seen a worrying surge in incidents where our engineers are being subjected to mindless verbal abuse or intimidation linked to the bogus 5G theory," said an OpenReach spokesperson.

"It's not only deeply concerning but totally misjudged, as our engineers are key workers. They're playing a vital role in connecting crucial public services, vulnerable customers and millions of friends, families and businesses throughout the UK."

"It's heart-rending enough that families cannot be there at the bedside of loved ones who are critically ill," said Vodafone's Jeffery.

"It's even more upsetting that even the small solace of a phone or video call may now be denied them because of the selfish actions of a few deluded conspiracy theorists."

Read more: Dr. Fauci rejects conspiracy theory that coronavirus was made in a Chinese lab: Business Insider

Stopping the spread

In a surprisingly rapid response, social media giants have stepped in to slow the spread of the conspiracy theories online, but with mixed results. 

YouTube has updated its polices to delete videos that share theories connecting the new technology and coronavirus. The decision was prompted by a live-streamed interview with famed conspiracy theorist David Icke earlier in the week where he told an audience of 65,000 that there was "a link between 5G and this health crisis".

Facebook, long criticized for their handling of the spread of 'fake news', has deleted two large anti-5G groups from its site, "Stop 5G UK" and "Destroy 5G Save Our Children". 

Both pages, which had more than 62,000 members between them, were shutdown after breaking the company's policies on promoting criminal activity for sharing messages encouraging the sabotage of 5G masks.

However, other groups have quickly sprung up in their place hoping to evade the crackdown, such as 'STOP 5... Ge U.K 4 SAFER TECHNOLOGY', which are carrying on their precursors' work.

Watch: Agenda Explainer: Europe's COVID-19 Spread

Expert advice

Read more: U.S. politicians find blaming China a perfect strategy in campaigns

In the UK, the government has explicitly attempted to debunk the 5G-coronavirus theory, with Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove describing it as "dangerous nonsense." 

However, Gove's famed phrase that "the people of this country have had enough of experts" may have come back to bite: a March report from the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate, found that 42 percent of Britons preferred to find out the truth about COVID-19 themselves rather than rely on the government and its experts. 

A further 65 percent agreed that it was important to look for alternative opinions about coronavirus "and not just rely on what we get told through the mainstream media."

Conspiracy theories around pandemics are nothing new. As cholera broke out for the first time in Britain in the 1830s, doctors were attacked in the street by groups of people claiming that they were killing their patients on purpose and using them for dissection. 

Such theories tend to proliferate in places where trust in political bodies and institutions are low, according to social psychologists.

Christopher Coleman from Nottingham University says the best way to tackle such misinformation is transparency and scientific education: 

"It is a good opportunity in a sense to show what scientists do and how we go about things. It is important that people are aware of what goes on why it takes time to work out these things."

However, it could take more than scientific education to stop the ongoing damage to vital public infrastructure and the sometimes dangerous mistrust inspired by politics. 

CGTN Europe has been providing in-depth coverage of the novel coronavirus story as it has unfolded. Here you can read the essential information about the crisis.

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