Conspiracy Theories Provoke 30 Arson and Vandalism Attacks Against UK Cellphone Towers (msn.com) 161
Conspiracy theorists have committed more than 30 acts of arson and vandalism against U.K. wireless towers and other telecom gear, reports the New York Times, citing police reports and a telecom trade group.
But what's stirring them up? For starters, over two million people watched a 5G conspiracy video on YouTube last month, the Times notes, adding that the misinformation is also spreading widely through other social media sites: An analysis by The New York Times found 487 Facebook communities, 84 Instagram accounts, 52 Twitter accounts, and dozens of other posts and videos pushing the conspiracy. The Facebook communities added nearly half a million new followers over the past two weeks. On Instagram, a network of 40 accounts nearly doubled its audience this month to 58,800 followers. On YouTube, the 10 most popular 5G coronavirus conspiracy videos posted in March were viewed over 5.8 million times. Today, the conspiracy can be found on Facebook in over 30 countries, including Switzerland, Uruguay and Japan...
"This is nonsense of the absolute highest order," said Julian Knight, a member of Parliament who leads a committee investigating coronavirus-related online misinformation. He said Facebook and YouTube needed to "get a grip" on the situation or risk undermining the crisis response. Mr. Knight added that the spread of 5G conspiracies raised alarms about how information about a future coronavirus vaccine would be disseminated. "If we were to get a vaccine for Covid-19, can we trust the social media companies to ensure that the right public health messages are put out about that vaccine?" he asked...
Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, said it was "starting to remove false claims that 5G technology causes the symptoms of or contraction of Covid-19." YouTube said it would reduce recommendations of videos linking the coronavirus to 5G, while Twitter said it had taken action against misleading and harmful content about the illness.
Telecommunications companies, which have added more security and are working with law enforcement, said the attacks against their workers and equipment had been widespread, threatening communication networks during the crisis.
A YouTube spokesman told the BBC this week that YouTube has toughened its stance against conspiracy theories. "Now any content that disputes the existence or transmission of Covid-19, as described by the World Health Organization and local health authorities is in violation of YouTube policies. This includes conspiracy theories which claim that the symptoms are caused by 5G."
But "Everything about this is senseless," says the head of BT, who points out that most of the attacked phone masks don't even carry the 5G signal.
But what's stirring them up? For starters, over two million people watched a 5G conspiracy video on YouTube last month, the Times notes, adding that the misinformation is also spreading widely through other social media sites: An analysis by The New York Times found 487 Facebook communities, 84 Instagram accounts, 52 Twitter accounts, and dozens of other posts and videos pushing the conspiracy. The Facebook communities added nearly half a million new followers over the past two weeks. On Instagram, a network of 40 accounts nearly doubled its audience this month to 58,800 followers. On YouTube, the 10 most popular 5G coronavirus conspiracy videos posted in March were viewed over 5.8 million times. Today, the conspiracy can be found on Facebook in over 30 countries, including Switzerland, Uruguay and Japan...
"This is nonsense of the absolute highest order," said Julian Knight, a member of Parliament who leads a committee investigating coronavirus-related online misinformation. He said Facebook and YouTube needed to "get a grip" on the situation or risk undermining the crisis response. Mr. Knight added that the spread of 5G conspiracies raised alarms about how information about a future coronavirus vaccine would be disseminated. "If we were to get a vaccine for Covid-19, can we trust the social media companies to ensure that the right public health messages are put out about that vaccine?" he asked...
Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, said it was "starting to remove false claims that 5G technology causes the symptoms of or contraction of Covid-19." YouTube said it would reduce recommendations of videos linking the coronavirus to 5G, while Twitter said it had taken action against misleading and harmful content about the illness.
Telecommunications companies, which have added more security and are working with law enforcement, said the attacks against their workers and equipment had been widespread, threatening communication networks during the crisis.
A YouTube spokesman told the BBC this week that YouTube has toughened its stance against conspiracy theories. "Now any content that disputes the existence or transmission of Covid-19, as described by the World Health Organization and local health authorities is in violation of YouTube policies. This includes conspiracy theories which claim that the symptoms are caused by 5G."
But "Everything about this is senseless," says the head of BT, who points out that most of the attacked phone masks don't even carry the 5G signal.
Terrorists (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Is there a psychological distinction between the two other than going through with the action? Both are based on a state of protesting or rectifying an injustice.
Just how real that perceived injustice is is another question. There is plenty of people that have no idea there is such a thing as ionising and that it is distinctly different to heating.
Re:Terrorists (Score:5, Interesting)
Ha, you overestimate humans. Believe me, there's a large number of people believing in "RF allergies" out there, and it's not even a stretch to go from there to being afraid of 5G also. I remember people complaining that their smart meters kept waking them up at 2am (which is odd because they're on the air 24/7), or that they could tell there was RF because it was interfering with their baby monitors (boggles the mind).
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Once upon a time, cellphones were big bulky things that emitting non trivial amounts of power. I'd worry a bit about those, if they still existed. (Does anyone else remember the car bag phones?) I don't worry too much about the current generation. I'm pretty sure they have been studied to death, and power, if anything, goes down with time, as cells become smaller.
The last time I looked at instructions they say you have to hold the phone something like an inch from your head while talking on the phone. Nobody does this. They press their razor thin cell phone up against their head a few millimeters away from the antenna.. Myself I don't know or care about harms all I know for certain is that government set exposure limits are being exceeded today in many models as they are actually used and 5G will only add to the problem. Distance is way more important than power
You believe DIFFERENT myths. (Score:2)
There are NO government regulations about the distance from body of cellphones. Why? Because there is no scientific evidence of any problem. None whatsoever.
And there never will be. We understand radio waves very well. We have devices that can and do measure them. More importantly we understand POWER very well. It takes energy to harm flesh and the power in a modern cellphone battery is not enough to do it unless it is all released in less than a minute (fire).
A few companies (Apple and Samsung) pu
Re: You believe DIFFERENT myths. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Here are some other factors. The person who does everything right and yet bad stuff still happens to them; exercising every day, eating healthy, living away from the city, etc, and then they get cancer. Obviously not their fault(!) so the search begins for the blame. Add onto that a major distrust of technology and government; go vegan because meat is bad for you, go gluten free because wheat is popular and therefore bad for you, avoid technology that keeps you away from nature, go paleo because our dista
Re: (Score:2)
Even otherwise intelligent people believe this kind of crap. Some companies in the water industry still use divining rods. People who designed high tech equipment for leak location will tell you that divining rods work and that the real problem is a lack of skilled operators.
There were some studies that found the human brain is prone to that kind of belief. It explains a lot.
Re: (Score:2)
When my grandparents sold a ranch and moved to a smaller chunk of land to retire on, they needed to dig a well. My grandfather I think clearly knew the best place to dig, he was pretty smart and inventive. My father decided he might try to do some water witching, for fun, just to see. And he was a school teacher with a degree in geology so I'm sure he could figure out just where the best place to dig was too. I don't remember which of the two wanted to do this, but both were smart. My guess was, you cou
Re:Terrorists (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Your incorrect. they do believe 5g is the cause of all the problems. They are morons!
Damn, what a gullible breed.
-- Agent K
Re: (Score:2)
You haven't spoken with the flat earthers who believe the world is flat only because the bible never mentions it being round.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You haven't spoken with the flat earthers who believe the world is flat
I don't think you have spoken with them either. The flat-earthers are TROLLS. They don't really believe any of it. They hold their meetings at micro-breweries, get drunk, and laugh about their provocations on social media.
Re: Terrorists (Score:4, Interesting)
You are oversimplifying. Some flat earthers are trolls. There are plenty that are not. I can vouch for that as I know one personally, and he has plenty of companions online.
If they are trolls they are doing a pretty convincing job of dedicating there lives to it.
Visit to the Flat Earth Society headquarters (Score:2)
The flat-earthers are TROLLS. They don't really believe any of it.
In the summer of 1982 I took time off to wander through the western portion of the U.S. One day, in the desert outside of Lancaster, California (on the way, more or less, to Death Valley), I happened to pass a small sign pointing me to the headquarters of the Flat Earth Society. With no particular place to go, and no particular time to get there, I made the turn.
The headquarters turned out to be a small metal building -- about the size of a double-wide mobile home, which it may in fact have been -- with l
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Terrorists (Score:4, Interesting)
You don't get out much and talk to people, do you? Lots of people believe lots of ridiculous things. For example, many people believe that WiFi is responsible for all sorts of health problems, like immune deficiency. For that matter, lots of people still believe that microwave ovens destroy food value. RF seems like magic even to smart people, imagine what stupid people can believe about it...
Re: (Score:2)
"Nobody is dumb enough"
Buddy, I got news for you.
Re:Terrorists (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This is domestic terrorism disguised as indoctrinated citizens. Nobody is dumb enough to honestly believe radio waves cause covid.
You seriously overestimate the Anti-Radiation idiots.
I have run into them a couple of times in the past. 7 years ago, one of the mobile operators purchased the rights to put a cell site on top of my in-law apartment block from the building owners. That event unfortunately coincided with me visiting them and the inlaw at some point told the neighbours that I work in a mobile company (I was developing what later became the femtocell at that time). The f*cking idiots nearly torched my car. With me in it. Tha
Re: (Score:3)
Nobody is dumb enough to honestly believe radio waves cause covid.
Well... Trump did say [thehill.com] (also noted elsewhere):
If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer, ...
Now, I don't know who "they" are, but *usually* when Trump (and/or Fox) uses phrasing that that ("they say", "people are saying", etc...) it means him (or Fox), and he is (they are) simply making it up. Then again, maybe he actually believes wind-turbine noise causes cancer.
People can be dumb -- film at 11.
Re: (Score:3)
"This is domestic terrorism disguised as indoctrinated citizens. Nobody is dumb enough to honestly believe radio waves cause covid."
Sure, they are even dumb enough to vote for Brexit.
Re: (Score:2)
This is domestic terrorism disguised as indoctrinated citizens. Nobody is dumb enough to honestly believe radio waves cause covid.
Never assume a significant part of the herd is not eager, willing and able to deny logic and overwhelming scientific evidence when doing so feeds and nourishes their particular world view. If a statistically significant percentage of the adult population can buy into things like the anti-vax movement, the "Elvis still lives" cult, the flat-earth society, moon-landing denial, the Nigerian prince email, etc, it's a certainty some people will believe radio waves cause covid.
Far too many people fail to understa
Re: (Score:2)
Watch a few YouTube videos from conspiracy nuts. It's hard to not get convinced by them that they are not stupid enough to believe any kind of bullshit.
Re: (Score:2)
This is domestic terrorism disguised as indoctrinated citizens.
Terrorism as the name implies is an act to incite "terror". There's absolutely nothing terrifying about some dude setting a mobile phone tower on fire. Please keep some perspective.
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently the argument is that the radio waves weaken your immune system and makes it easier for you to develop COVID-19.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No, I've seen the stuff anti-5G people post. They really are that dumb. Like anti-vaxxer dumb.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
lol, conspiracy theory on conspiracy theory nut job critical mass?
Re: (Score:2)
Would someone who genuinely believed 5G causes virus transmission actually be carrying a cellphone? You'd have to find another way to track them...
Re: (Score:2)
The FBI does that all the time. Criminals turn off their smartphones for a short time and stand out from all other normal smartphone users
The NSA likes the way journalists and whistleblowers will suddenly not use their smartphone for a while too. A long history of smartphone use for years.
That common 1 hour gap stands out to the NSA
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Would someone who genuinely believed 5G causes virus transmission actually be carrying a cellphone? You'd have to find another way to track them...
Idiots can easily believe two totally contradictory things. Like racists who can simultaneously believe that black people are too lazy to work, and that they are out to take "our" jobs away. Which everyone using their brain knows cannot possible _both_ be true.
Yes, these idiots can simultaneously believe that 5G towers are dangerous and phones are safe (on another site someone living close to a destroyed cell tower reported that his neighbour was so happy about that cell tower gone, and then asked him wh
Re: Terrorists (Score:2)
What is wrong with the UK? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The rest of the world doesn't have 5G yet.
Re: (Score:2)
The rest of the world doesn't have 5G yet.
Africa doesn't have 5G. But they also don't have covid ...
Re: (Score:2)
Ummmm, what???
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis... [arcgis.com]
Re: (Score:2)
African nations are deploying 5G, e.g. Nigeria. They don't have any issues buying 5G gear from China so it's cheaper and easier for them.
Re: (Score:2)
Their backward terrorists are still burning down 4G towers. Their terrorist training camps need to upgrade their curriculum.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Apparently these videos can be seen all over the world, what is wrong with the UK that it makes people there want to attack 5G towers?
Generally this sort of thing, along with the Flat Earthers and Moon Hoaxers and the like, is caused by a complete lack of trust in the government. Or at least, when we last went through a wave of similar crazy 30 years ago and the Moon Hoaxers were shiny and new, that's what was found.
Very divisive government, and especially government that seems to ignore the will of the voters, seems to wind people up to believe that all the accepted sources of information are simply lies. When you believe authority doe
Re: (Score:2)
Re: What is wrong with the UK? (Score:2)
That is not what the WHO said.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a conspiracy! (Score:2, Troll)
So now the people behind the 5G conspiracy to make us all sick are spreading this misinformation to discredit the heroic whistle blowers who are put themselves at considerable risk in order to save us. It's great that YouTube & Facebook can see through this sham, are standing fast, & only paying lip service to those evil conspirators. Speak truth to power, YouTube & Facebook!
Now then, where did I leave my meds? I need to calm down.
Re: (Score:2)
It's time that we, as a society, stop tolerating this ridiculous anti-science garbage. We should be mercilessly mocking and ridiculing these people, not just sitting there listening with amusement and shaking our heads. They are going to get people killed. It was funny when they claimed the moon landing was faked. It serious when they claimed vaccines cause autism. Now they're destroying infrastructure. What's next? How much longer should we put up with this nonsense?
Re: (Score:2)
There's a nutter 'round these parts who spends his time writing to newspapers and organising anti-mobile phone tower protests.I think he just likes the attention - so many of his letters to the editor are debunked in the following issue, then he replies with pseudo-scientific babble, and the debate rages on.
I started calling him the village idiot when I saw him using a mobile phone.
Burn the witch! (Score:3, Insightful)
Glad to see we have really progressed in these modern times.
The government denying the story proves it's true. (Score:2)
Because that's exactly what the government would say if it were true.
The "logic" is quite *literally* indisputable.
My species is stupid and embarassing! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This post is awesome because I can believe somebody on either side of this "debate" posting it.
Re: (Score:2)
Fake News (Score:2, Insightful)
It's because 5G is a huge waste of money and the driver for installing it is increased tracking of subjects. I mean citizens.
You need hundreds of radios to cover a city block. The only benefit is better tracking. 4G already has plenty of bandwidth for speed, carriers just don't build out capacity. 5G will be using the same back hauls.
It's all about tracking. Fuck 5G.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Do you?
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe the GP is, but there's a point to be had.
The fastest internet connectivity my cable company will give me for my house is 400Mbits/sec. Yes, Google and Verizon and a few other carriers have 940Mbits/sec, but their US coverage is a minority and there are plenty of places in the US where 50Mbits or less is the fastest available.
LTE's theoretical maximum throughput is 740Mbits/sec. That's nearly twice as fast as a hard-wire connection I can get for my house. Moreover, a 40Gbit/sec backhaul to the tower co
Re: (Score:2)
A conspiracy to cover another (Score:2)
If you like conspiracy theories, this one just crossed my mind. Remember when people were saying that 5G radiation was dangerous, possibly carcinogenic? Okay, suppose for a moment that's true. How can this information be suppressed from the public eye? Easy: start a truly blatantly absurd rumor, such as a link between 5G and a viral epidemic. This way, you can paint ANY criticism of 5G as nonsense.
Re: (Score:2)
It works the other way too, is the problem. The virus seems like a much more plausible threat, especially since a mind-boggling amount of money has been lit on fire to avoid it.
Destroying towers makes it worse. (Score:3)
The crazy thing is that the ones running around destroying the towers that are not 5G will only speed the adoption of 5G since that is likely what those towers will be replaced with.
"Testers" (Score:3)
If the telecom infrastructure can be taken down by a few nut-cases in beenies, it's a warning about what could happen in a real war or large-scale terrorist operation. Seems the security and fire systems need some shoring up.
What 5G (Score:2)
Idiots (Score:2)
There's one solution (Score:3)
In these trying times... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Do we get to vote on that?
It makes sense (Score:2)
Utterly stupid! (Score:3)
Everybody knows, that you just have to open Settings and switch 5G off so the towers can no longer send Coronaviruses to your phone.
Naturally, for security, you have to dip your phone in 97% alcohol for 5 minutes afterwards.
Re: (Score:2)
Or you could drink Vodka instead. (It might not be more effective, but its definitely more fun).
Re: (Score:2)
"Naturally, for security, you have to dip your phone in 97% alcohol for 5 minutes afterwards."
'Or you could drink Vodka instead. (It might not be more effective, but its definitely more fun).'
You can drink the 97% one too, it's also some sort of 'vodka'.
Theorists? (Score:2)
If they are commiting acts, they are certainly not theorists. May be we should call them "conspiracy practitioners"?
Re: (Score:3)
Just call them conspiracy nuts. That covers it all and also doesn't taint the word "theory" any more than it has already been.
So, well, catch them? (Score:2)
This is the UK we're talking here. A billion CCTVs watching every move anyone makes, it can't be hard to find out who these idiots are, cash in their belongings and stuff them into some prison. At some point, the idiots roaming freely will be at a manageable level.
What exactly is the problem here?
Putin must be proud (Score:3)
Bring back the Frame-Breaking Act (Score:2)
It worked against the Luddites in 1812, and it can work against them now.
https://historicalbritain.org/... [historicalbritain.org]
mentally ill (Score:2)
Conspiracy hunch (Score:2)
Just when you have faith, you lose it... (Score:3)
In the UK, just when I start to gain faith in humanity, with the massive outpouring of help to the NHS, with people willingly isolating themselves, helping neighbours, rediscovering connections with old friends, burying hatchets... there's this bullshit.
FFS, if this doesn't point at an education system not fit for purpose, I don't know what does.
An understanding of how both radio waves and viruses work, at a very basic level, is so profoundly simple to pick up and understand, a child age 7 could do it.
I cannot actually even bring myself to find any correlation between covid-19 and 5G. My mind refuses to do the math, it is that palpably ridiculous.
So, why are grown adults, some of, we would assume, reasonable intelligence, being fooled by this complete rubbish?
Well, we'd need to turn to psychology for that. Because they *want* too. It's the same reason people join cults. They want simple answers to impossibly complex problems.
Covid-19 is an impossibly complex problem, it is so emotionally saturated with fear, that people yearn to find an answer. Well, some people do.
They reach out to anything that may sound slightly plausible to their own special minds and - there we go - a nice simple solution to an incredibly complex situation.
It's 5G, stop the rollout, burn down the masts, the virus goes away.
We haven't really advanced that far as humans, have we?
Re: (Score:2)
Next, 5G will make your penis disappear:
https://www.reuters.com/articl... [reuters.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
As per the article, "Now any content that disputes the existence or transmission of Covid-19, as described by the World Health Organization and local health authorities is in violation of YouTube policies. This includes conspiracy theories which claim that the symptoms are caused by 5G."
So YT feels that it ought to police content, at least to some extent. Why is that, if they're not responsible? They're not responsible for the users, but they're certainly wary of not being seen to monitor and remove certain
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Does that make YT an accessory to the crime? (Score:5, Informative)
No, but the UK gov SHOULD go after each and every uploaded of the conspiracy for incitement to terrorism offences. Be hard on these dumbasses and lock them away for a few years to set a precedent to stop this idiocy spreading
Re: (Score:3)
There's evidence that much of this misinformation is the result of a campaign by a state actor.
I'm not saying that locking up the 'dumbasses' is a bad idea, just that it'll take a war against a nuclear power.
Re: (Score:3)
There's evidence that much of this misinformation is the result of a campaign by a state actor.
I'm not saying that locking up the 'dumbasses' is a bad idea, just that it'll take a war against a nuclear power.
Unfortunately it wouldn't really solve the problem. If you can persuade people to set fire to base stations on a stupid pretext like this then you can persuade them to do other important things like voting for crazy people. Those other things may be invisible undetectable or, as in the case of voting, illegal to trace. The only solution is to "fix" the people who are listening to these messages, however you do that.
Re: (Score:2)
In the veterinary sense, preferably. That way at least the idiocy won't spread in a hereditary way.
Re: Does that make YT an accessory to the crime? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
^^^ This.
And/Or indite Youtube for conspiracy to incite murder.
Re: (Score:2)
Wow talk about the big lie. It is not incitement to terrorism to discuss conspiracy theories, that is a fucking right you moron. An incitement to conduct terrorism is an incitement to conduct the actual act, publicly discuss committing the actual act of vandalism.
What is the reason behind the attacks, the idiot shut down and bored teens. Nothing better to do and ohh look 5G theories, who cares, lets just vandalise the towers any how as a protest against the establishment.
The only real terrorist are the cor
Re: Close minded (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
We'll find out soon enough. The frequency of attacks should decrease as the videos become less available.
There's no good reason for 5G to be unpopular. While it offers little to the average consumer, it also offers little threat. The high frequency forms will serve some fixed location users well, while the lower-frequency forms will provide superior network access in crowded stadiums and the like, so there are reasons for some to want the technology.
I presume that this is happening so much there because Bri
Re: (Score:2)
There's no good reason for 5G to be unpopular.
Other than the inflated prices and high battery drain. Much like 4G and 3G it was not only pointless but self defeating to be an early adopter. It's only worthwhile buying in when the problems are fixed (I wouldn't want 3G these days).
The high frequency forms will serve some fixed location users well, while the lower-frequency forms will provide superior network access in crowded stadiums and the like, so there are reasons for some to want the technology.
I thoug
Re: (Score:2)
Well, maybe I've got it backwards, but my understanding was that even the lower frequency range 5G permitted more towers in a given area because of improvements in signaling, but could still pass through stuff. Whereas the high frequency 5G would be useful mostly for fixed installations which could use higher-gain antennas, and permit higher speed connections.
Re:A scary sentence in the summary: (Score:4, Informative)
"...violation of YouTube policies"
YouTube is not a government, it's a business.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course. I'm aware this isn't a first amendment case, but they're still creating their policies based on what information the government deems acceptable, and it creates a problem for a democracy.
Re: (Score:2)
Then host your own Peertube node and post want you want on it.
Re: (Score:3)
Further, this is the same WHO that still recommends not wearing a mask.
No, WHO says for most people it is not necessary which is not recommending wearing a mask not recommending not wearing a mask. The other advice was making your own half-baked mask and wearing it multiple times without sanitising it is worse than not wearing one, because it is worse than not wearing one.
Re: (Score:3)
they are just as crazy and as unreasonable as the bullshit they pass around as "science" and "news".
No