Conspiracy theorists are freaking out over plans by the UK government to test a new emergency warning system by sending alerts to every smartphone in the country – warning that it’s part of a sinister plot.
The government will test the so-called “Armageddon alert” system – designed to warn people of floods, extreme weather, fires or other life-threatening dangers – on the 23rd of April. The trial will involve sending a test alert to every smartphone in the country, causing them to make a loud siren noise, vibrate, and receive a message informing them of the test.
Videos by VICE
But for the radical UK conspiracy theorist networks that have emerged during the pandemic, there’s something far more sinister afoot. The announcement earlier this month of plans for the test has put conspiracy theorists into a tailspin, with prominent truthers warning the trial is part of a “globalist” plot and a “precursor of what’s to come.”
Conspiracist channels have been abuzz with chatter about the alert system, with users framing the trial as an effort to enforce public compliance and install spyware as part of a nefarious plot to bring about a dystopian New World Order.
Their concern has seen hundreds of online mentions of hashtags like #PhonesOff23April and #emergencyalerts, as conspiracy theorists urge each other to change their phone settings to avoid receiving the alerts, according to Chris Proops, an OSINT specialist at Logically, an organisation that combats online misinformation.
He told VICE World News that much of the chatter linked the test to a supposed plot by the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organisation to bring about a so-called “Great Reset” – a familiar narrative in conspiracy-land.
In one video circulated on conspiracist Telegram channels, Mick Stott, the leader of sovereign citizen group Guardians 300, made a number of false claims about the test alert, while pushing a hazy narrative about compliance and surveillance.
“If this wasn’t a precursor for what’s about to come then I don’t know what is,” Stott said in the video. “If this doesn’t wake people up, then I don’t know what will.”
He falsely claimed that the test would require people to “reply” to the message, or else their phones would be deactivated for the day – and suggested, incorrectly, that any response would allow government spyware to be installed on their phone.
The government says that the trial alert will simply inform recipients that it is a test, and that they do not need to take any action. VICE World News understands that it will be impossible to reply to the messages, and that the only response required will be to click “OK” to clear it from the phone screen.
Stott, whose group is known for training so-called “peace constables” to act as self-appointed police officers in helping people resist the authorities, also suggested the test was part of a government ploy to monitor compliance with its orders, as part of a “scoping strategy…ahead of them crashing the banks.”
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And in a Twitter post that was retweeted hundreds of times, a prominent conspiracist podcaster claimed that the alert system had finally redpilled her vaccinated “lefty” mother.
“I think the security alert coming to UK phones tipped her over the edge. Triple jabbed, she said: “I think you’re right. It’s all been lies,” read the post.
Aoife Gallagher, an analyst at ISD Global and author of the book “Web of Lies: The Lure and Danger of Conspiracy Theories,” said the response was “unsurprising in a lot of ways,” particularly since the emergency alerts struck on two topics that were major sources of distrust and fear for conspiracy theorists: smart technology and government.
“The conspiratorial mindset will always default to the belief that nothing is as it seems. So, to a conspiracy theorist, an emergency alert system to warn about life-threatening events must really be a cover for something else,” she said. In this case, they had seized on it to support their familiar narrative that “an impending dystopian society is being planned under our noses.”
“Many believe that the alerts are actually a means to install spyware on people’s phones in order to track them, or enforce further lockdowns in the future,” she said. “One post I came across on Telegram sums it up: ‘This is NOTHING to do with keeping you safe and everything to do with keeping you terrified.’”
A similar response was seen in the US two years ago, when an announcement of an imminent test of the national emergency alert system – routinely carried out every year or two – spawned a wave of viral conspiracy theories on platforms like TikTok. These included narratives that the test would intentionally disrupt communications to sow chaos and bring about the New World Order, that it would emit a vibration to trigger COVID-like symptoms, or that it would activate a kill-switch in vaccinated people.
