Is the test a test?
Conspiracy theorists are flooding social networks ahead of the Federal Emergency Management Agency testing its blaring Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts on Wednesday afternoon.
The routine event — which will reach cell phones, televisions, and radios at about 2:20 p.m. ET — “is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” according to FEMA.
Phones should only receive a single message during the half-hour broadcast, which will announce to consumers: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
TVs and radios will receive a similar message during the second phase of the test.
In the event of severe weather, the test will be postponed until Oct. 11.
However, because phones that are shut off — along with other opt-out options — during the test duration won’t receive an alert, many are theorizing that the EAS is a trap of some sort.
“Definitely turning off the cell phones and TVs…I’m very torn on what to do,” said “tin foil hat” TikToker Meredith Owen.
A popular conspiracy is that the test will signal phones to activate potentially harmful compounds like graphene oxide that have made their way into people’s bodies — only a smidge off Samuel Jackson’s evil plot of 2014’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” — according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Others fear a Y2K-esque blackout to come from the routine test, while others claim that this is yet another example of a “Simpsons” prediction to come true, as a similar instance was referenced in the hit cartoon.
And then there is the alarm over a potential zombie apocalypse.
As Halloween is less than a month away, some have also naturally — and astonishingly — raised concerns that the alert could kick off a “Walking Dead”-worthy attack.