Once again..a completely unfounded conspiracy theory...based on absolutely nothing..somehow gains a following..and real-world consequences follow!
How can people be so stupid? This article tracks the origins of this nonsense..and the way it not only infected both the internet and social media..but inspired arson and death threats! I noticed some posting this nonsense right here, on this site. i wonder if any of those tin-foil hat wearing idiots prepared to defend their posts?
www.wired.co.uk
A short excerpt:
It started with one doctor. On January 22, Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws published an interview with Kris Van Kerckhoven, a general practitioner from Putte, near Antwerp. “5G is life-threatening, and no one knows it”, read the headline. One scientifically-baseless claim in this article, published in a regional version of the paper’s print edition and since deleted from its website, sparked a conspiracy theory firestorm that has since torn through the internet and broken out into the real world, resulting in fires and threats. Van Kerckhoven didn’t just claim that 5G was dangerous: he also said it might be linked to coronavirus.
At the time, the outbreak was a comparative speck. It had claimed nine lives and infected 440 people, almost all of them in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Under the heading “Link met coronavirus?” the Het Laatste Nieuws journalist pointed out that since 2019 a number of 5G cell towers had been built around Wuhan. Could the two things be related? “I have not done a fact check”, Van Kerckhoven cautioned, before piling in. “But it may be a link with current events”. And so the fuse was lit.
On YouTube, obscure online talkshow hosts and vloggers started revealing “the truth” about 5G and coronavirus, racking up tens of thousands of views. Posts on Facebook made similarly outlandish claims, receiving only a few thousand views from a familiar and welcoming audience. For some time, the conspiracy theory would bounce across this echo chamber. But some weeks later, it started to break out, propelled by engagement algorithms that were smart enough to spot a viral trend but dumb enough not to notice the idiocy of its content.
How can people be so stupid? This article tracks the origins of this nonsense..and the way it not only infected both the internet and social media..but inspired arson and death threats! I noticed some posting this nonsense right here, on this site. i wonder if any of those tin-foil hat wearing idiots prepared to defend their posts?
How the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory tore through the internet
From an interview with an obscure Belgian doctor to apparent arson attacks in the UK, the conspiracy theory that 5G is somehow linked to the coronavirus pandemic has spread unlike any other
A short excerpt:
It started with one doctor. On January 22, Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws published an interview with Kris Van Kerckhoven, a general practitioner from Putte, near Antwerp. “5G is life-threatening, and no one knows it”, read the headline. One scientifically-baseless claim in this article, published in a regional version of the paper’s print edition and since deleted from its website, sparked a conspiracy theory firestorm that has since torn through the internet and broken out into the real world, resulting in fires and threats. Van Kerckhoven didn’t just claim that 5G was dangerous: he also said it might be linked to coronavirus.
At the time, the outbreak was a comparative speck. It had claimed nine lives and infected 440 people, almost all of them in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Under the heading “Link met coronavirus?” the Het Laatste Nieuws journalist pointed out that since 2019 a number of 5G cell towers had been built around Wuhan. Could the two things be related? “I have not done a fact check”, Van Kerckhoven cautioned, before piling in. “But it may be a link with current events”. And so the fuse was lit.
On YouTube, obscure online talkshow hosts and vloggers started revealing “the truth” about 5G and coronavirus, racking up tens of thousands of views. Posts on Facebook made similarly outlandish claims, receiving only a few thousand views from a familiar and welcoming audience. For some time, the conspiracy theory would bounce across this echo chamber. But some weeks later, it started to break out, propelled by engagement algorithms that were smart enough to spot a viral trend but dumb enough not to notice the idiocy of its content.
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