Covid-19 and the rise of the 5G neo-luddites

Pushback against technological advancements is not new, and history is littered with examples of fears and skepticism about progress, including the steam engine, electricity and the automobile. While the world today is hardly imaginable without trains and cars, a new generation of tech skeptics is rising – one that harbors bizarre fears about 5G, the new global wireless standard, and its supposed connection to the coronavirus.

So pervasive is the issue that the EU member states are compelled to step up the fight against the tide of fake news and conspiracies inundating Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. At a time when it’s abundantly clear that extensive deployment of 5G technology is indispensable for the EU to keep pace with global developments in numerous sectors, the rise of these neo-luddites is more than just a nuisance – it’s a wider threat to prosperity and unity across the Union.

When the fringe takes action

Although fears about 5G predate the pandemic, Covid-19 has amplified the concerns held by certain segments of the population. They have merged with anti-tech attitudes to form a loose opposition movement against 5G across Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries. This is despite and partly because of the fact that official EU communications and documents speak to the high hopes the European Commission is investing into the technology for achieving the ambitious overhauling of Europe’s economy, and mending an increasingly fractured single market.

At the root of this opposition are several bizarre conspiracy theories that have been circulating around social media since the beginning of the pandemic. A whole ecosystem of false claims has since proliferated, ranging from accusations that the coronavirus is really a cover-up for 5G-induced radiation poisoning, to 5G exacerbating virus infections or being a weapon for population control.

While this pan-European opposition movement still seems rather loosely structured, it has evidently become coherent enough to organize a dedicated online anti-5G summit to discuss these and other themes. The event, which was promoted by 5G agitators like German news anchor turned conspiracy theorist Eva Herman and others across anti-5G social media and chat groups across Europe, featured several figureheads in the 5G conspiracy world, making it ground zero for anti-5G activism for a short while.

Going mainstream?

It remains to be seen what the long-term impact of the summit will be. At the very least, it will have served as an echo chamber that has further cemented 5G luddites in their beliefs. Given that the accusations levelled at the technology have been debunked time and again, it’s blatantly obvious that 5G opponents won’t be persuaded to change their ways by presenting them with real, scientific facts.

At worst, the summit could lead to increased radicalization among activist groups, some of whom are no longer content with posting articles and comments. In the UK, Netherlands and Ireland, activists have begun to attack the telecommunication infrastructure and the people maintaining it.

The phenomenon is most pronounced in the UK, where 77 cellphone towers have been attacked between early April and May, while a video in Italy depicting a burning 4G tower in La Spezia has gone viral in mid-May. The video has since been shared among Dutch and German activists and, together with the 5G summit, could fan the flames of anger and mistrust towards the authorities, thereby acting as an incentive to take anti-5G action to the next level in these countries.

The price of ignorance

Such developments are frightening not only because they increase societal division, but also because they interfere with the EU’s grand plans to fast-track the “digital transition”, which necessarily relies on 5G: the EU’s 5G Action Plan calls for uninterrupted 5G coverage on major roads and railways by 2025, while the technology is expected to be commercially available in every member state by the end of this year. Whether these lofty goals will be attained within the original schedule is questionable if attacks become more frequent, especially in hitherto comparatively quiet countries like Germany.

5G opponents may believe to be on the right side of history, yet they ignore that their actions happen at the expense of all Europeans. Indeed, the technology is an indispensable tool if Brussels hopes to compete against US and Chinese telecommunications in the decades to come. Telecommunications companies in the US are frantically rolling out 5G networks across the country, while the rise of Chinese telecommunications manufacturers Huawei and ZTE appears unimpeded across other parts of the world. European telecommunications ministers, Brussels has warned, cannot afford to fall behind.

Equally as important as international competitiveness, however, are the internal opportunities presented by a comprehensive 5G roll-out alongside a reformed single digital market: namely, Brussels’ increased ability to distribute the benefits of European integration evenly so that all communities can share in the prosperity.

On a macro-level, new technologies and services wrought by the EU’s digital transformation are projected to contribute to a cumulative increase in European GDP of 14.1% by 2030. By leveraging the potential of the single market, European lawmakers can channel early action to shrink, and perhaps even eliminate, disparities between rural and urban regions across the bloc, as 5G-powered internet becomes more available to these areas. As a consequence, EU citizens living in regions dependent on EU and national subsidies are enabled to explore new digital job opportunities, liberating them from rigid reliance on traditional regional employers like the automobile or heavy industries.

Yet none of this will come to pass if the hysteria about 5G and its supposed connection to Covid-19 hampers digital progress. The rise of the neo-luddites is a worrying trend at a crucial moment in the EU’s history – one that should be characterized by forward-looking action, rather than getting stuck in the morass of the present.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes