Viral conspiracy theory falsely links 5G to coronavirus

MANILA, Philippines – The worldwide outbreak of the novel coronavirus has had the internet buzzing, leading to some wild conspiracy theories including a new one that suggests 5G caused the disease, CNET reports. 

The false claims have gone viral after American R&B singer Keri Hilson, who has over 4.2 million followers on Twitter, suggested that there might be a link to the launch of the next generation wireless network technology in China to the emergence of the coronavirus there. 

“People have been trying to warn us about 5G for YEARS. Petitions, organizations, studies…what we’re going thru is the affects of radiation. 5G launched in CHINA. Nov 1, 2019. People dropped dead,” the singer wrote in several tweets that have since been deleted. 

Various internet users and social media pages, including an anti-5G Facebook group, also shared similar claims. Facebook user Ben Mackie wrote in a post shared thousands of times that it’s not the virus that kills people but actually 5G technology. The post has since been marked as false information. 

While the animal source of the disease has yet to be identified, experts from the UK fact-checking group FullFact believe that 5G has nothing to with it. 

“This is incorrect, the new coronavirus is a virus and there is no evidence that 5G is harmful to people’s health,” they wrote. 

They also added that 5G data, like previous generations of wireless network technology, is transmitted via non-ionising radio waves, which don’t damage the DNA inside the cells. – Rappler.com