Facebook blocks ‘Stop 5G UK’ and ‘Destroy 5G Save Our Children’ conspiracy groups

• Facebook has deleted two anti-5G groups whose users pushed conspiracy theories that 5G caused the coronavirus.
• The two groups, “Stop 5G UK” and “Destroy 5G Save Our Children,” were open for anyone to join and had thousands of members.
• Business Insider previously found that members of the “Stop 5G UK” group also pushed the drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure for coronavirus. The drug is not proven as an effective treatment.
• Facebook said it was taking “aggressive steps” to halt misinformation around the coronavirus and 5G.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Facebook blocked two anti-5G groups over the weekend after members encouraged the destruction of mobile phone masts in breach of the network’s policies on promoting violence. Group members also promoted misinformation linking 5G to the coronavirus outbreak.

The “Stop 5G Group” had racked up around 60,000 members, and originally began as a fringe group with concerns about the rollout of faster mobile connectivity. Another group, “Destroy 5G Save Our Children,” had more than 2,500 members and was also removed.

Research published on Monday by anti-hate group Hope Not Hate highlighted posts on both groups encouraging the destruction of phone masts.

“Comment sections were filled with incitement to criminal damage against 5G infrastructure,” the researchers wrote, adding that a post on “Stop 5G UK” about “5G Hell Towers” was shared more than 400 times.

Hope Not Hate also found posts openly discussing plans to attack 5G masts.

Anti-5G activists believe that 5G radio waves harm humans. But radio waves are low energy compared to other types of radiation, and Cancer Research has concluded that neither 4G or 5G cause cancer.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the anti-5G conspiracy theory has evolved.

Since the outbreak spread globally through March, conspiracists have been pushing the idea that 5G weakens the immune system and make people more susceptible to the virus, or else that the virus is somehow transmitted through radio waves. Neither is true.

The new conspiracy theory is thought to have led to activists setting light to phone masts around the UK.

Philip Jansen, chief executive of the UK’s biggest telecoms firm BT, wrote in the Mail on Sunday over the weekend that 39 telecoms engineers had been attacked verbally or physically. Jansen pinned the blame on conspiracy theorists, adding that 11 phone masts had been set alight.

He wrote: “Some go so far as to assume that Covid-19 is an entirely fabricated virus; nothing but a cover-up for 5G.” He added that most of the sites under attack were not 5G masts.

Last week, Business Insider reported that users on the “Stop 5G UK” group were dangerously pushing the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the coronavirus. Although some governments have issued emergency authorization for the use of hydroxychloroquine in treating desperately ill patients, its efficacy remains unproven.

A Facebook spokesman said in a statement: “Content encouraging attacks on 5G masts clearly violates our policies and we have removed a number of Pages, Groups and posts.

“Over the last week, under our existing policies against harmful misinformation, we have also begun removing false claims that 5G technology causes the symptoms of or contraction of COVID-19. We will continue to work closely with governments, other tech companies and third parties to remove harmful misinformation and promote official guidance from local health authorities.”

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