The mobile industry is calling on celebrities and influencers, especially those with large social media audiences or platforms, to act responsibly by not endorsing groundless 5G conspiracy theories that can and have already had serious real-world consequences

Such endorsements provide credibility to claims that have no basis in science and ultimately stand to risk people’s lives and health, particularly at a time when the nation is working towards a strategy to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. 

For example, previous conspiracy theories have tried to link 5G masts with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, even when it is clear this is biologically impossible. Further, the virus was and is spreading in areas where there is no presence of 5G.

These actions, either through retweeting messages or even endorsing a conspiracy theory, which may seem harmless, have led to arson attacks on mobile infrastructure and masts, even those that were not 5G, at time when people need a mobile connection to stay in touch with family, work and the emergency services. On one occasion, the connectivity provided to one of the Nightingale Hospitals was impacted by an attack on a mast, not to mention the wider mobile connectivity needs of our emergency services, such as the ambulance service. Further to this, the industry’s own workers became the target of shocking abuse.

Any link between 5G and vaccines has no basis in science. False stories linking the vaccine to 5G, while likely to be dismissed by most, can only risk further damage to the nation’s collective efforts to fight the pandemic.