What was claimed
Hundreds of birds found dead on the deck of a ship were killed by 5G.
Our verdict
There is no evidence that 5G kills birds. They are thought to have died during migration.
No evidence birds found dead on ship were killed by 5G
30 July 2021
A video shared on Facebook shows what appears to be hundreds of dead birds along the deck of a cruise ship.
A caption next to the video states “Cruise ship turns on 5G , birds this time, what next?”
There’s no evidence the birds were killed by 5G.
The website BirdCast suggests the deaths were a result of migration, and that it is possible that the nocturnally migrating birds were attracted to the lights of the cruise ship and then became disorientated by them, resulting in collisions and death.
Deaths during migration are common as birds may experience bad weather at sea and drown, get lost or collide with man made objects, as this article by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds explains.
We have fact checked similar misleading claims about birds being killed by 5G before.
Reuters Fact Check reported that the video was first posted on a website for cruise ship workers in April 2020.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because there’s no evidence that 5G kills birds. It’s most likely they died during migration.