The social network shut down the largest group dealing with the 5G deployment in Israel • An official statement read: "The group has violated community and policy rules and poses real danger"

• Photo: AFP / EPA

The war continues: Facebook Israel announced over the weekend that it had removed the "Stop 5G Israel" group, which was engaged in conspiracy theories about fifth generation deployment - and even linked the network's deployment to the spread of the Corona virus. The group, which had members tens of thousands of Israeli supporters, recently went on rallies across the state and was responsible for distributing Pike News on the issue.

"The group violated community and platform policies to prevent false information from presenting any real danger," said Facebook Facebook. "With the outbreak of the Corona epidemic in the world, Facebook has begun to prevent the spread of false information related to the epidemic that could endanger human beings and works with the competent health authorities, including the World Health Organization and Israel with the Ministry of Health, to direct users to official information on the issue."

In the meantime, members of the group do not intend to give up and have set up a new group with members already 10,000 supporters. The new group description reads: "Were you ready to sell your health for a faster internet? Generation 5 technology is about to be deployed in Israel and is carcinogenic and destructive. Resist us! '

Go from words to deeds

Following the phenomenon on social networks in recent weeks, opponents have ignited a large number of cellular antennas across Europe - and even caused the emergency 112 crash (equivalent to 100 in Israel) in a number of areas in the Netherlands. In the UK, similar cases occurred when four Vodafone antennas, which are unclear if used for a fifth-generation network, were also set ablaze by anonymous people.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the ignition of the antennae was "completely stupid," and urged policing forces to capture the operations. Much of the 17 antennae ignited in the past two weeks are in the South Holland Province of Brabant, which suffered a particularly severe outbreak of corona.

Following the exceptional cases and the global storm around the network deployment, the World Health Organization and the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an official statement issued last week said there was no connection between the 5G and the outbreak of the Corona virus.

Fighting together

And Facebook isn't the only tech giant to fight the conspiracy's followers. YouTube, which is owned by Google, also recently announced that it will thin out the amount of videos that deal with conspiracy theories that deal with the issue. "There is a clear policy that prohibits videos promoting unsubstantiated methods of treating or preventing the corona virus instead of seeking medical attention. It may spread misinformation in harmful ways, "the company said.