5G's Rollout Has Been a Mess, and Conspiracy Groups Are Loving It

[Nevilledog]

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David Gilbert
@daithaigilbert
Conspiracy communities have weaponized the bungled #5GRollout in the US to convince others that wild conspiracies about the technology's role in spreading COViD are true

vice.com
5G’s Rollout Has Been a Mess, and Conspiracy Groups Are Loving It
They’re using the bungled rollout as “proof” their conspiracy theories about the technology were right all along.
8:28 AM · Jan 19, 2022

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dypd5q/5g-rollout-conspiracy-theories

Conspiracy theorists are using the aviation industry’s concerns about the launch of 5G services near airports as “proof” that their wild claims about the technology are also true.

Whether it’s claims that 5G is being used to spread COVID, or that the next-gen wireless technology is part of a plot to control the human population, or that switching on 5G will cause people to suddenly explode, conspiracy theory communities around the globe are leveraging the real concerns airlines are raising about the technology to convince their followers that their warnings about 5G are also true.

“Conspiracy communities are exploiting anxieties and development issues surrounding 5G as an opportunity to further promote baseless claims that attempt to link the deployment of this technology with other prominent world events like COVID-19 and in the process they are serving to further push fear-mongering and alarmist narratives online,” Ciaran O’Connor, an analyst with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told VICE News.

What’s really happening with the 5G rollout?

On Wednesday, U.S. cellular networks like AT&T and Verizon are scheduled to switch on their 5G networks across the country. But airlines have been warning that the launch of the high-speed technology could interfere with aircraft safety and navigation systems, and United Airlines and American Airlines said Tuesday that they were preparing to cancel flights if the rollout went ahead. Some international airlines also said they would cancel flights into the U.S. if the launch went ahead.

5G is not a new technology, and networks have been up and running in other countries for several years without this issue cropping up. The difference in the U.S. is related to the frequencies being used.

*snip*

[moondust]

1. T-Mobile?

I haven't heard a single mention of T-Mobile in all this 5G airport drama yet T-Mobile claims to have the biggest 5G network. Did they get something right while the others goofed?