News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:5G Virus Conspiracy Theory Fueled by Coordinated Effort by throwanem on Thursday April 09, 2020 @03:46PM (#22826420)
The comments on any 5G-related YouTube video I've seen, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du8yQeQdMBk, tend to bear it out. You see a lot of accounts with no content posting the same thing over and over in comment threads, to a point where it's almost absurd to imagine them being anything but bots. No argument, no defense of whatever point they're trying to push, no engagement whatsoever.

For anyone curious, the conspiracy theory seems to have some varieties, with the one I've most often seen pushed not so much claiming that 5G masts somehow directly cause coronavirus, but rather that coronavirus is a false-flag campaign designed to create broad popular support for a vaccine which, thanks to magnetic particles and/or nanotechnology depending on who's telling the lie right now, will enable mass population control via 5G masts.

I've been a hobbyist collector of conspiracy theories since high school. From that perspective, and absent any sort of context, I have to admit this one's inspired. But I gradually lost my pleasure in that hobby, as thoughtless social media operations turned conspiracy theories from a cute but harmless fringe preoccupation into a means of disinformation with the power to move whole societies. From that perspective, this is truly vile.

Re:5G Virus Conspiracy Theory Fueled by Coordinated Effort by whatshisface on Thursday April 09, 2020 @03:47PM (#22826432)
The majority of those comments are laughing at people who believe 5G causes coronavirus.
Re:5G Virus Conspiracy Theory Fueled by Coordinated Effort by throwanem on Thursday April 09, 2020 @03:50PM (#22826462)
I wonder if the ones I'm talking about have been deleted since I watched the video last night. I'll have to check again after work; it'd be nice to think Youtube is responding.
Re:5G Virus Conspiracy Theory Fueled by Coordinated Effort by jacquesm on Thursday April 09, 2020 @04:57PM (#22827110)
And that still wastes their time and effort and it still discredits the medium that is used to convey the message.
Re:5G Virus Conspiracy Theory Fueled by Coordinated Effort by imglorp on Thursday April 09, 2020 @04:01PM (#22826567)
They're laughing because they all know Corona beer causes it.