Beware, lies: a fake video showing 5G equipment labeled “COV-19” is being circulated on the network
A video is being circulated on social media in which a man calling himself a telecommunications engineer opens a box of equipment allegedly labeled “COV-19” in order to mount it on a mast. This video contains false information, explains Reuters Fact Check .
The video appeared on the network in mid-May and was actively disseminated through various social networks, collecting thousands of views.
In the frame, we see a man wearing a safety helmet and a brightly colored work jacket, claiming to a camera that he is a telecommunications engineer installing masts for 5G networks throughout the UK during the quarantine period.
He then takes a printed circuit board out of the box and states that it is “a piece of equipment that is labeled COV-19.”
The person in the frame continues: “I have not seen products made by any PCB company that carries the COV-19 logo.
However, that’s exactly what this damn board says! I am not at all a knock-down conspiracy theorist, but I definitely read various publications on the Internet about coronavirus and COVID-19!
But I don’t understand at all, why the hell is they putting these boards on masts like this !?
Whether the person in the frame is really a telecommunications engineer is unknown.
However, what he holds in his hands definitely has nothing to do with equipment for 5G networks.
The circuit board held by the man who calls himself an engineer is actually taken from Virgin Media’s cable set-top box – the box of this box can be seen standing on the hood of the van at the very end of the video when the camera zooms in.
Virgin Media was narrating this report and yet also affirmed that the PCB board was taken from an old cable TV set-top box and that the “COV-19” engraving on it is not genuine.
A spokesman for the company added: “This is a board from a very old set-top box. In such set-top boxes, there have never been components signed/printed or otherwise marked with the word “COV-19”.
The fee has absolutely nothing to do with mobile infrastructure, including 5G. “
The gray cable connector in the far corner of the PCB in the video is located next to the SCART plug, as seen in the Virgin Media set-top box.
Reuters compared the buttons visible on the near edge of the board to photographs sent in by two sources who owned and disassembled similar set-top boxes.
The layout of the PCB also matches the photographs sent by the sources.
Verdict
Fake. The video does not show equipment labeled COV-19 prepared for installation on a 5G mast.