Conspiracy theorists mistake guitar pedal diagram for “5G Chip”, alleging it’s in COVID-19 vaccine

Conspiracists say the imaginary chip might track citizen movements… while also offering a flexible EQ section.

Boss Metal Zone / COVID-19 conspiracy theory

Image (left): Boss

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Conspiracy theorists in Italy are warning the public about a ‘5G Chip’ they claim has been planted in COVID-19 vaccines. However, the widely circulated image of the chip in question has been outed as a reworked schematic for the Boss Metal Zone pedal.

The image shows a diagram for the alleged ‘COVID 5G Chip’ – which has a section labelled 5G Frequency, amongst others such as Bass, Mid and Treble.

Mario Fusco, a senior software engineer at Redhat, tweeted to flag the misinformative image being sent out by those who bought into a widely debunked conspiracy about a vaccine with broadband capabilities.

“Here in Italy, people started to share this figure claiming that this is the diagram of the 5G chip that has been inserted in the COVID vaccine,” he wrote. “In reality, it is the electric circuit of a guitar pedal”.

See the full post below:

The image has since garnered a number of responses, most comic in nature.

“These people with their conspiracy theories are so tiresome, it’s always “wah-wah-wah,” wrote one Twitter user, who shared an image of a Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah.

Another user lauded the analogue design of the alleged “COVID-19 5G Chip”, tweeting, “Excellent. Reassured to know that 5G relies on op-amps and some 1n4148 diodes. Proper old school. None of that digital and microprocessor nonsense. I’ll take one in each arm.”

The Boss Metal Zone, launched in 1991, is one of the brand’s best-selling pedals. It’s also been the subject of an inside joke amongst guitar players, due to its widespread use by beginners. This even prompted Roland Australia to publish a blogpost on the right way to use a Metal Zone.

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