Posts falsely link 5G networks to 'climate control'

"5G TOWERS: WEATHER ENGINEERING," is the title of a graphic purporting to demonstrate how electromagnetic waves induce "climate control" shared on May 16, 2026 to a Facebook group for the city of Merritt, British Columbia in western Canada.

The graphic appeared elsewhere on Facebook and on X.

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A screenshot of a Facebook post taken May 19, 2026

Scientists have long stated that conspiracy theories swirling around supposed "manufactured" weather catastrophes are unfounded and the latest 5G-engineered climate claims are no exception.

"Electromagnetic signals of the power and frequency range of 5G wireless communications signals cannot cause any significant changes to weather on any scale," said University of Richmond physics professor, Jack Singal (archived here).

5G is the fifth generation of cell tower technology that allows for wider bandwidth and the ability to transmit more data over a range of radio frequencies (archived here).

It improves the speed, connectivity and reliability of its transmissions, compared to its predecessors.

Asked if 5G infrastructure could trigger a storm or drought, Andrew Dessler, a global climate physics researcher and director of the Texas Center for Extreme Weather (archived here) said: "Absolutely not."

He told AFP on May 18 there are many reasons to reject the assertions in the graphic, including:

• No mechanism exists whereby radio-frequency energy can change the weather.
• The amount of energy used by the cell phone network is negligible compared to the solar energy that drives the weather.

No credible scientific literature exists backing the theories proposed in the visual (archived here).

"Humans are indeed changing the weather in important ways," Dessler said -- just not via cell phone networks -- but due to emissions.

Additionally, the chart includes a disclaimer reading: "This image is for informational and illustrative purposes only. It represents a theory and is not proven or endorsed by any scientific body."

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Two 5G towers are pictured in Beijing in 2020 (AFP / NICOLAS ASFOURI)

Lack of particle control

Metallic and barium nanoparticles may exist in the air, but atmospheric data show no evidence of any widespread, intentional dispersal, experts told AFP (archived here).

Such particles reside in the atmosphere for a few days, said Stephen Holler, a physics professor at Fordham University (archived here).

"Any continued effort to use such particulates to modify the weather would require continuous replenishment, which would show up in observations," but this is not the case, he said.

Additionally, he said 5G waves "are vastly larger than these particles" and would simply pass through without interference or absorption.

"The fact is, the global warming and other climate change impacts that we see are the result of geoengineering through the continued injection of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over the past two centuries," Holler said (archived here).

Steven Cummer, a professor of engineering at Duke University (archived here), pointed out in a May 19 email that in real atmospheric conditions, wind forces are much stronger than waves emitted by 5G networks, making it impossible to control particles with them.

AFP previously debunked posts which made unfounded claims about wireless signals activating pathogens or being used to spread infectious diseases.

While theories of viruses propagating through radio frequencies appeared in pay-to-play journals at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, major health organizations have found no evidence linking 5G exposure to adverse health effects (archived here, here and here).

Find more of AFP's coverage on weather geoengineering, here.