Narrative
The narrative about 5G is rooted in society following the widespread idea that any exposure to antennas affects immunity and causes cancer. The outbreak of the COVID-19 has changed the storyline – it blames mainly the 5G networks for spreading coronavirus. 5G is creatively engaged in what has become a classic conspiracy that the 5G technology is a tool to control the population after it is injected with microchips hidden as an anti-COVID vaccine. Likewise, the quarantine and isolation are considered well planned measures to keep people away/home in order to hurry the installing of the 5G technology on the road pillars in Chisinau and across the country. Complementary, 5G is said to provoke the death of bees and trees.
Dissemination
Obscure local websites with profound nationalist and/or religious touch
The topic has been juicily exploited by obscure/shady local websites with profound nationalist and orthodox touch that praise other alternative press for covering the topic while the official and mainstream media do not criticize 5G technology. Thus they imply that media and government are in favor of 5G.
Agoraphilia – the path to liberty. 19.05.2020 Stop 5G! An open letter to Mr. Octavian Rău
Source: Flux.md
Obscure public figures
Ex-politicians seem to be the promoters of 5G conspiracies. They frequently blame the country’s leadership for being linked with organizations that want to install 5G networks and present meticulously crafted investigations and references to scientists, experts and politicians that expressed their disapproval of 5G. A relevant example is the ex-politician Iurie Rosca who tries to enter the current public sphere via his online newspaper – Flux.md. Additionally, Iurie Rosca created a Facebook group to promote the fake and manipulator content published in his newspaper. An experiment conducted by Diez.md – a local news website that joined the group for a week – showed that the most active and insistent members of the group had fake accounts or mentioned they use fake accounts in order to avoid identification.
The motivational speaker, Ion Varanita, launched a public petition to be signed against the 5G technology in the Republic of Moldova, promoting the fact that the 5G network has a devastating effect on humans. His petition was removed shortly afterwards. He actively promotes the idea that coronavirus is a global fake launched to produce fear and make the population accept vaccination. His followers support him and urge for riots and destruction of 5G pillars. Ion Varanita established a new party that urges to fight against the US and Russian invaders that are puppets of the Illuminati.
Religious authorities/Institutions
The Orthodox Church of Moldova that has strong links to the Russian Orthodox Church mentioned in a communique issued in May to the country’s leadership, that the virus is the result of the combination of the 5G technology and a set of vaccines used in China and Italy. Thus, they expressed their disapproval of any 5G technologies to be established in the Republic of Moldova.
“The public opinion in many European countries is protesting against the mandatory vaccines, especially the vaccine against COVID-19, because it is considered a way in which the globalist antichrist system wants to introduce into people’s bodies microchips with which to control them through 5G technology”
The Metropolitan Church of Moldova fuels COVID-19 related fake news
Source: Dw.md
Target audience
5G related fake news targets both Romanian and Russian speaking population, although most websites operate in Romanian. Some websites are bilingual and often repost/republish articles and videos from obscure Russian websites and YouTube channels. The narrative proved to be successful among religious, nationalist, patriotic audience that cherish traditional values such as traditional family, anti-abortion, anti-vaxxers, people who are reluctant to new technologies.
Disproof
The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Moldova indicated in a press release that there has been no licenses issued for establishing, testing or exploiting 5G networks on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Besides, according to the Vice-President of the Moldovan Academy of Science interviewed by zdg.md (Ziarul de Gardă), conspiracies related to vaccines and 5G control of the population are far from reality and no research in the field has proved that 5G can be harmful.
