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April 12, 2020 04:34 am

Conspiracy Theories Provoke 30 Arson Attacks and Vandalism Against UK Cellphone Towers

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.

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