We spoke with a self-proclaimed ‘radiation renegade’ who believes 5g, EMF radiation and other technology are out to get us and tried to figure out if we should be smashing up our smart meters or just laughing it off.

Lampposts, phone towers, and smart meters are just handy tech improving our lives, right? Not according to a particularly popular and animated conspiracy theorist we’ll call the Signal Saboteur. He believes and promotes the idea that all kinds of everyday technology that emits EMF (electromagnetic fields… we’ll go over it later), most prominently 5g and WiFi infrastructure, are causing us harm. 

“They’re all there to spy on, x-ray, control, poison and yes, in some cases kill us,” he said. “It’s all corrupt, all false, they’re trying to murder us, and whatever you’re told otherwise is a lie. Even covid was a coverup for us experiencing the symptoms of 5G.” 

It feels important to note that we spoke, phone held to his ear, for over an hour and a half, even at one point asking to move the call to WhatsApp, as his sound was better when using his mobile data.. the notoriously signal free medium. When confronted on this hypocrisy, he put it simply: “I’m taking a risk for you today,” but I can guarantee this man’s daily screentime is well over what it should, radiation worries aside. I felt my risk was of a similar level talking to him, as he is a formerly famous figure with a large social media following, who did not take kindly to me bringing up any kind of pre-researched fact to him. 

Armed with a feisty Facebook group, a questionable grasp of physics, and a vocal distaste for all forms of authority, this warrior against Wi-Fi has taken it upon himself to rally the resistance against what he believes is a decades-long plot to destroy humanity with invisible waves. “I’d never liken myself to a soldier in the second world war, but people going against this are soldiers, they’re fighting systems that’ve been in place for decades… I’m doing that,” he said. 

The resistance group he runs on Facebook (also a platform that of course relies on electronic devices and internet connectivity) which opposes councils and supports likeminded people who believe we are being poisoned by radiation from everyday technology and advancements like 5G. 

“I needed to change the narrative,” he said. “Needed to mix it up instead of leaving people sitting in their houses alone and petrified, wondering what the hell is going to happen next. We need to start taking information to them and making them aware, telling them you’re not alone, don’t stress over this, it’s not as scary as you think it is.”

He wants to dismantle any institution that holds power or control, and his biggest target is Birmingham City Council, who he’s been battling for years, slamming them for putting 5G infrastructure in place. He hasn’t paid council tax in nearly three years, energy bills in two, water in one and can’t remember ever paying his TV license, so is quite experienced in combating angry bill collectors. He shares this experience and uses it to support people in his Facebook group refusing to pay bills and vetoing these companies. 

“They thrive on people’s fear and in turn, people pay up or submit, because they’re scared to death and don’t want these people banging on their doors,” he said. The group, which skyrocketed to 3,000 members in just weeks, functions as both a hub for like minded individuals and a crash course in anti-establishment living. 

Birmingham City Council reject any notion that there are harmful levels of radiation in their area and don’t see any risk factors associated with 5G. 

“5G offers significant benefits to the citizens and businesses in Birmingham”, Dr Peter Bishop, director for digital and customer services at Birmingham City Council said. “It drives the economic growth of the city, offers new innovative ways of working and new business models that improves public service.” 

In 2020, following the launch of 5G in the UK in 2019, and a bout of 5G tower vandalism by those claiming a link between 5G and the spread of covid (as the Signal Saboteur and his Facebook disciples do), Ofcom published the results of electromagnetic field (EMF) measurements at 22 5G sites in ten UK cities as part of a continuous study. Ofcom measures EMF levels and can take action against licensees in the event of a breach of the internationally agreed levels on EMF exposure. 

“The maximum measured at any site was approximately 1.5% of those [international guideline] levels – including signals from other mobile technologies such as 3G and 4G. The highest level from 5G signals specifically was 0.039% of the maximum set out in the international guidelines” Ofcom said. 

“To put it even more simply, your microwave produces more harmful waves than any nearby 5G telephone mast.” 

At this point, you’re either starting to panic, or thinking these are folk with too much time on their hands and a weakness for AI generated Facebook memes. 

“At the beginning of all this, the conspiracy theorists as we were so called, we were about thirty-percent, the rest of the world was at seventy,” he said, “But I believe we’re sixty-forty in our favour now, people are waking up.” 

Surely there isn’t just 40% of us using phones happily and getting vaccinated willingly? Am I in a completely separate echo chamber? Am I really ‘asleep’? Is this my wake up call to join the upheaval of modern societal structures? Up the revolution, down with the pylons! 

Not quite. After a brief period of hyperventilating and considering ripping my smart meter out the wall (which actually turns out is just a thermostat), the Office for National Statistics assured me only 4% of the UK population have vaccine hesitancy, and the government completely refuted any links between covid and 5G or EMF, calling it a ‘harmful fringe conspiracy’. 

So now we’ve been rattled, maybe turned off our data, what actually is the mysteriously dangerous EMF these theorists are against? EMF is real, and it has proven side effects, so let’s break it down, but it’s a tad dull and scientific, so I suggest crafting tin foil hats or designing the blueprints for a 5G-proof bunker while we go through it. 

EMF stands for electromagnetic fields, but if like me you forgot any physics knowledge the second you left your last GCSE exam, let’s refresh. Electromagnetic fields are basically just a kind of non-ionising radiation. If radiation is non-ionising, it’s lower to mid frequency and generally seen as less harmful to humans, as opposed to higher frequency ionising radiation, which can under certain circumstances lead to cellular or DNA damage with prolonged exposure, such as UV, gamma and X-rays. 

“Electromagnetic radiation has been around since the birth of the universe; light is its most familiar form,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) says. “Electric and magnetic fields are part of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation which extends from static electric and magnetic fields, through radiofrequency and infrared radiation, to X-rays.” 

EMF is something we’re all exposed to, especially in the UK and EMF levels will only be increasing as technology advances. 

So where does speculation that this radiation is harmful come from? There were links to childhood leukemia and EMF that have since been disproven, but that bad PR has certainly lingered, and there’s still huge gaps in research and long term impacts. 

In 1996, WHO launched an international project to assess the health and environmental effects of exposure to electric and magnetic fields in response to growing public concern over possible health effects from exposure to an ever-increasing number and diversity of EMF sources. It was updated most recently in 2022, still with little concern for general public health. 

Since 2016, there have been UK guidelines for workplace safety and EMF too, with the most at risk professions involving MRI scanners, electric vehicles, aluminium extraction, electromagnetic crane lifting and welding. Side effects the Health and Safety Executive warn of include nausea, vertigo, metallic taste in the mouth, flickering sensations, tingling, muscle contraction and heart arrhythmia. 

I’m not an electric train driver or a powerline electrician, in fact I don’t even own more than one charger, but I’ll admit I was still a bit paranoid about what kind of radiation my body is soaking up. 

“Get yourself an EMF reader,” the Signal Saboteur said. “They’re cheap and easy to use, or get one of the expert guys to give you proper info.” 

These experts offer services providing a comprehensive overview of your home’s EMF exposure, or even just a visit to tell you about EMF, ranging from £145 for a natter to £395 for a full reading… Bargain! I wasn’t quite that panicked, so instead found someone with an EMF reader who would let me borrow it for the day. Interestingly, Jane, who lent me the reader, doesn’t use it to monitor radiation in regards to her health. 

“I don’t really care at all about pylons or whatnot, only when they’re getting in the way, messing up my signals,” Jane said. “I use it to help track the paranormal.” 

Mine suddenly felt like a very scientific and sane use of the reader, although wandering around the garden telling my housemates to stop laughing and hoping my neighbours wouldn’t leave their houses would maybe suggest otherwise. Turns out my house is pretty average when it comes to radiation (which I suppose confirmed it isn’t haunted either, small wins), and has below average EMF readings, until I put it next to my laptop or WiFi box then it shifts into the red zone at a close distance. But EMF experts assured me this wasn’t any kind of health worry at such close range and it’s normal and not concerning for EMF to spike near tech. 

After spiralling after my time spent talking to the Signal Saboteur and researching EMF, the only change I’m making is typing with my arms outstretched further from my laptop rather than smashing up 5G towers. But as he so eloquently put it to me, “The world we are living in has shocked the tits off me, and I thought I knew a lot about it.”