witter, Facebook and other social media companies are being urged by the government to deal with a spate of conspiracy theories linking 5G to coronavirus.

Ministers will meet with the companies after mobile masts in Birmingham, Merseyside and Belfast were set on fire following theories being posted online.

Mobile companies described the fears 5G caused coronavirus as 'baseless', with the government describing the theories as harmful to public health.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said that the idea of 5G masts being responsible for coronavirus is a 'crazed conspiracy theory'.

There is no scientific evidence that 5G technology poses any threat to human health and it was confirmed as safe by the radiation watchdog last month.

As well as mast burning, engineers have been facing physical and verbal threats from those who believe the 'baseless' theories being spread on social media.

One of the prominent fears being spread by people, including some celebrities, includes the idea that radiation from 5G masts lowers people's immune system.

Culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, will meet with Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Twitter 'to hammer the message home' that the claims are 'utter rubbish'.

A spokesperson for the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport told the BBC they had several reports of criminal damage to phone masts and abuse of telecom engineers 'inspired by crackpot conspiracy theories'.

'Those responsible for criminal acts will face the full force of the law. We must also see social media companies acting responsibly and taking much swifter action to stop nonsense spreading on their platforms which encourages such acts.'
Facebook deleted a Facebook group full of conspiracy theorists claiming 5G being emitted from masts was sparking coronavirus

Last week, West Midlands Fire Service said eight firefighters attended an incident involving a 70ft tower on a telecommunications site in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham, although the cause of the fire was not determined.

Fire crews were called to a blaze at a phone mast in Aintree, Merseyside, on Friday night but a spokeswoman for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said there were 'no signs of foul play' so an investigation into its cause was not launched.

The mast had been featured in a video shared on social media the previous weekend by someone who claimed to be measuring radiation from it.

Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove said the theories spreading from various social media groups and profiles were 'just nonsense, dangerous nonsense as well.'

Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said: 'Conspiracy theorists are a public health danger who once read a Facebook page.

'Here, we also see similar groups of people keen to show their ignorance on a topic where they have no helpful expertise, nor any inclination to post useful public health messages.'

The world health organisation has branded the spread of disinformation about COVID-19 on social media platforms as an 'infodemic'.

On 5G generally the World Health Organisation said: ''A large number of studies have been performed over the last two decades to assess whether mobile phones pose a potential health risk.

'To date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.'


Potential uses for 5g include:

Simultaneous translation of several languages in a party conference call
Self-driving cars can stream movies, music and navigation information from the cloud
A full length 8GB film can be downloaded in six seconds.
5G is expected to be so quick and efficient it is possible it could start the end of wired connections.

By the end of 2020, industry estimates claim 50 billion devices will be connected to 5G.

Click and watch the video here how it works:http://jumiaforum.com/crazed-conspiracy-theory-that-5g-causes-coronavirus-around-the-world/

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