Why the ‘5G causing Covid-19’ theory, why now?
Social media, stress and suspicion are driving conspiracy theories that 5G towers cause coronavirus, say experts.
Since the coronavirus lockdown telco companies Spark, 2degrees and Vodafone, and the Rural Connectivity Group have all experienced threats or actual attempts of sabotage of cell towers, including attempted arson.
This has followed similar attacks and threats around the world. ‘‘The problem with the intersection of 5G and Covid-19 conspiracy theories is they confuse correlation with causation. The Covid-19 pandemic is occurring almost at the same time as the 5G rollout,’’ University of Waikato’s Dr Matthew Dentith told the Science Media Centre last week.
The philosophy expert said conspiracy theories about the harm of 5G to human health go back as far as 2017, but theories suggesting 5G was responsible for a suppressed immune response to Covid-19, or the virus, was a cover story for ‘5g poisoning,’ was new.
Dentith said evidence was lacking a basic link between the two, other than ‘mere timing’.
Professor of psychology at Victoria University, Marc Wilson, said the development of conspiracy theories served as a ‘psychological function’.
‘‘The more dramatic and negative an event, the more likely people in general are to see a conspiracy in action,’’ Wilson said. ‘‘Why choose to believe the scary notion that a shadowy group of elites is out to do bad things to people to make yourself feel better? Because the alternative is that bad things happen without rhyme or reason, and that means it could happen anytime and to anyone.’’
Karaitiana Taiuru, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and maths) Ma¯ori cultural advisor at Taiuru & Associates, said Ma¯ori were underrepresented in technologies, creating a wide knowledge gap on topics such as 5G.
‘‘Ma¯ ori society is very hierarchical, and community based. There are some groups with a number of social media followers promoting 5G conspiracies. But we also do not have iwi leaders speaking out in favour of or promoting 5G technologies and the myriad of economic and social opportunities for Ma¯ ori.’’
Associate Professor Ian Welch, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Victoria University of Wellington, said when people were under stress, they ‘‘search for truth’’. ‘‘When things that we don’t understand change the way we live, or seem connected to negative events in our lives, it is very easy to blame the change,’’ Welch said.
‘‘One way that these ideas spread are via social networks.’’
Professor Ekant Veer, associate dean of Postgraduate Research at the University of Canterbury, agreed social media created small groups confirming their own specific beliefs.
Veer said the belief within the groups made people who were part of them feel empowered and more aware of ‘reality’, that it was the mainstream who had been duped into believing that the conspiracy wasn’t true.