This article examines the emergence of conspiracy theories linking COVID-19 with 5G, with a focus on Australia, the United States and United Kingdom. The article is in two parts. The first details long-standing concerns around mobile technologies and infrastructures before showing how they translate to specific worries about 5G technology. The second shows how these fears have fuelled specific conspiracies connecting 5G with COVID-19, how they have animated protests and acts of vandalism that have occurred during the pandemic, and the ongoing engagement of conspiracists with official inquiries into 5G. Finally, we argue that a productive way to understand what is happening with 5G is to look beyond conspiracy theories to a larger set of concerns. We argue that the battle for control of 5G infrastructure can be productively understood in geopolitical terms, as forms of economic statecraft, which partly explains why governments are increasingly concerned about countering misinformation and disinformation around 5G.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19、5G 阴谋和基础设施未来

本文研究了将 COVID-19 与 5G 联系起来的阴谋论的出现，重点是澳大利亚、美国和英国。文章分为两部分。在展示它们如何转化为对 5G 技术的具体担忧之前，第一个详细介绍了对移动技术和基础设施的长期担忧。第二个显示了这些恐惧如何助长了将 5G 与 COVID-19 联系起来的特定阴谋，它们如何激起了大流行期间发生的抗议和破坏行为，以及阴谋家持续参与对 5G 的官方调查。最后，我们认为，了解 5G 正在发生的事情的一种有效方法是超越阴谋论，关注更大范围的问题。