Twitter is currently fixing their fact-checking policy which will be useful for checking labels. These checks will be a part of the content that relates coronavirus to 5G technology. Recently many outbreaks took place all over the world where people showed distress about the usage of 5G. According to many rumors Coronavirus is a direct outcome of the new 5G network. All of these conspiracies are leading to anarchy in the United Kingdom.
However, this is completely false. 5G technology has nothing to do with COVID-19 whatsoever. Therefore, the social media giant is currently going over a few fact-checking policies of their own.
In the last few weeks, you may have seen Tweets with labels linking to additional info about COVID-19. Not all of those Tweets had potentially misleading content associating COVID-19 and 5G. We apologize for any confusion and we're working to improve our labeling process. (1/4)
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 26, 2020
Twitter fact-checking policies being revised to not label Coronavirus with 5G
However, it appears that Twitter is applying the label too much. Users have discovered that the label will appear on tweets that contain the words “frequency” and “oxygen”. This is because of the disproved conspiracy theory that 5G is a dangerous frequency that sucks the oxygen out of the atmosphere and disrupts the regular functioning of the human body.
We may also use labels with links to additional context and information to help keep you informed about misleading or disputed topics. Here’s an example of a Moment we've curated relating to false claims of a link between 5G technology and COVID-19: https://t.co/Xums5QLOTV (3/4)
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 26, 2020
Many such false accusations against 5G technology are spreading in the social media giant’s feed. Twitter has acknowledged the wrong applications of the fact-checking label and said that it will fix the process behind the feature. Spreading the coronavirus is just one of many conspiracy theories involving 5G technology. There have also been claims that 5G causes cancer, and that the technology caused the death of hundreds of birds in The Hague. 5G was also said to have the ability to control the weather and to control people’s minds.
Recently a USB drive was launched named 5G BioShield which aims at protecting their users from the side effects of 5G technology. All of these are nothing but false rumors going around on the internet.
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Suryapratim Ray is an engineer, author, robotics hobbyist, and an active Quoran. Being a technical blogger, he covers the good, bad, and ugly of science on a regular basis at Sciencenews18. In addition to his passion for writing, he’s equally keen on learning classical music.