Wireless customers with AT&T , Cricket Wireless , T - Mobile , and Verizon all reported outage across the countrythis dayspring . And just like clockwork , some folks online pounced on the disruption as evidence of a global conspiracy .
Alex Jones , arguably America ’s most popular confederacy theorist , believe the telecom outage is a lineal result of Taiwanese hackers .
“ Is it a cyber attack ? AT&T is being very tight - lipped , ” Jones insisted in a entanglement broadcast on Thursday in his typical “ just asking questions ” panache .
Scene from the 2023 Netflix movie Leave the World Behind starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali.Gif: Netflix
In fact , even people who are n’t eff conspiracy theoretician were bring up the apocalyptical Netflix movieLeave the World Behind , have the rubric to trend on X.
“ prognosticative programing from the Netflix movie ‘ will The World Behind , ’ ” a prominent X account that sharesQAnonconspiracy theorieswrote on Thursday .
“ No internet . No telephone set . No lead back to normal , ” the story continued , echoing the movie ’s promotional tagline .
And while that really is how the flick is promoted on Netflix , there ’s no grounds this outage is “ prognosticative programming , ” a terminal figure used by some conspiracy theorists to explain how speculative fiction sometimes accurately predicts events in the real world . In the real world , sometimes artists plainly predict event because they ’re because they ’re prosperous or have a honest hold on thing probable to occur in the futurity .
Leave the World Behind motion picture stars Julia Roberts , Ethan Hawke , and Mahershala Ali , and follow two families as they endeavor to voyage the cosmos after a occult onset , possibly by a strange adversary , destroys modern engineering like cellphone service , internet access code , and TV programme .
Believe it or not , the movie was already a democratic movie with people who might have a shtup open . Why ? It was executive raise by Barack and Michelle Obama , who have a producing deal with Netflix . The Obamas pattern conspicuously in idle conspiracy theories that hinge on a ecumenical web of pedophile control the world and thatMichelle Obama is transgender . Not to mention the birther conspiracy theory , an idea that President Obama was n’t born in the U.S. which President Donald Trump helped distribute .
The US Cellular users who watch Leave the World Behind and awaken up to SOS onlypic.twitter.com/JuWGYAPPr0
— Stacks n Snacks ✭ ( @All_Cake88)February 22 , 2024
But it was n’t just conspiracy theorists who were comparing this outage to allow the World Behind . revelatory movies make for by tap into our heavy fears for the future . In this case , the pic did a good job of make viewers feel like they were n’t certain what was happening . And when it ’s hard to get real selective information — as it obviously was for the characters in the picture show — several conflicting story can start to spread , include rumour about who or what was actually causing the communicating breakdown .
This AT & T outage is very much give Leave The World Behind vibes#ATTDownpic.twitter.com / p9T5tukS9v
— The Trap Olivia Pope ( @sweetjanebih)February 22 , 2024
We use movies like allow for the World Behind as cultural touchstones — a share shorthand when something chilling or unjust pass off . If the movie is pop enough , it makes sense and everyone instantly knows what you ’re getting at , like when the Syrian refugee crisis reach Europe in 2015 and citizenry were compare the horrific photo that were emerging to the 2006 dystopian filmChildren of Men .
Here we go with the Climate Change reverence mongering . “Strong solar flare " enounce to have caused cellular outages affecting AT&T , Verizon and T - Mobile customers across the U.S. Is this out of the Obama movie Leave The World Behind?pic.twitter.com / byPjqAOoi4
— Freyja ™ ( @FreyjaTarte)February 22 , 2024
Other clock time the meaning of a film involve a lot more interpretation , like when I debate in 2018 that Bird Box , the Netflix movie starring Sandra Bullock , was the first swell monster moving picture where theunseen horror was social sensitive . But whether it ’s Bird Box or Leave the World Behind , we clearly live in an geological era of unbelievable unease around engineering science . We ’re all staring at our phones and other screen for hours each Clarence Day and none of this “ connectedness ” is stool us feel any more attached to other mankind .
🇺 🇸 Just watched “ Leave The World Behind , ” and now your earpiece ’s stuck on SOS ? 😂 https://t.co/CT5Gu3BGPTpic.twitter.com/lqpL8GRpJw
— Mario Nawfal ( @MarioNawfal)February 22 , 2024
It ’s that alienation that can drive many people further into confederacy theories in a criminal cycle that ’s enticing for its simplicity . But why would President Obama serve make an intact movie about a plan to break up communications and then actually carry out that program ? Apparently in the minds of conspiracy theorists , guys like Obama are all villain in a James Bond movie who tell you their integral game before they carry it out , giving the poor boy just enough time to save the day .
Again , there ’s no grounds that anything happen with today ’s telecom outage is anything but a normal military service to-do . But if you set about seeing hundreds of self - drive Teslas throng up with no humans inside , then you’re able to start to interest .
Update , 9:50 p.m. ET : AT&T has released a statement to explain that today ’s outagewasn’t a cyberattack .
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