Twitter is now fact-checking tweets that link 5G and the COVID-19 pandemic by adding a label that promises to get users “the facts about COVID-19,” Business Insider reports. Clicking the label takes you to a Twitter page titled “No, 5G isn’t causing coronavirus” that includes links to news reports, fact-checking organizations, and government agencies debunking the conspiracy theory.
Twitter’s latest wave of fact-checking labels appears to have been applied pretty broadly, even on some tweets making jokes or references to the label itself.
Expanding its fact-checking labels to apply to coronavirus 5G conspiracies is the latest instance of Twitter’s evolving platform moderation efforts. The labels stop a step short of screening or removing content altogether, instead offering up additional context and letting users reach their own conclusions. At the very least, even with its mild wording, the warning labels should help flag untrustworthy content for the platform’s most credulous users.
Given the real-world implications that 5G conspiracy theories have had, however, this aggressive fact-checking is arguably justified. In the UK, cell tower masts have been set alight and engineers have even been harassed in the street as a result of the conspiracy theories, putting national infrastructure at risk at a time when it’s playing a vital role in helping authorities respond to the pandemic.
There is no evidence to link COVID-19 with 5G. According to fact-checking organization Full Fact, there is no evidence that 5G suppresses the immune system, nor is there any evidence that viruses can communicate through radio waves. The pandemic continues to spread in countries without any 5G infrastructure at all.
