In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastation across the United States this week, a new storm erupted on social media — false rumors about how disaster funds were used, and even claims that officials controlled the weather. We do.
Local and national government officials say they are trying to combat the rumors, including those spread by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
One of the more far-fetched rumors is that Helen was an engineered storm to allow corporations to mine regional lithium reserves. Others accused President Joe Biden’s administration of illegally using federal disaster funds to help migrants into the country or suggested officials were intentionally leaving bodies in the clearing.
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on Thursday night: “Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”
Conspiracy theories are critical of rescue and recovery efforts after the storm, one of the deadliest U.S. hurricanes this century. And there is still more than a month left in the presidential election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Republicans and Democrats alike say the rumors are causing problems.
“I just spoke to a senator who had 15 calls today about why we don’t stop…….. ‘fill in the blank,'” North Carolina Senate Republican Kevin Corbin said this is one of Helen’s hardest hits. “There is a 98% chance this is not true and if it is a problem, someone knows about it,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I’m tired of the deliberate distraction,” he said.
White House officials on Friday accused some Republican leaders and conservative media of deliberately spreading rumors to divide Americans in a way that could harm disaster relief efforts.
“This type of disinformation can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it most,” a White House memo said. “It is paramount that every leader, regardless of their political beliefs, stops spreading this poison.”
The memo highlighted Trump’s claim during a rally this week that Biden and Harris used federal emergency funds “on people who shouldn’t be in our country.”
“This is wrong,” the memo said. “No disaster relief funds were used to support housing and services for immigrants. Not at all.”
In response to a request for comment for this article, the Trump campaign repeated allegations that FEMA funds were spent on housing immigrants in the country illegally.
The White House memo said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has funding for immediate response and recovery efforts for Helen, and has provided millions of dollars in relief to those recovering.
FEMA has been the target of so many falsehoods that it has set up a rumor response page on its website to try to suppress them.
Helen struck Florida a week earlier, killing more than 200 people and devastating half a dozen states in the US southeast.
Some officials themselves are trying to deal with disinformation on social media. Katie Keotamai, who works at FEMA but said she was speaking on social media in a personal capacity, described FEMA’s disaster response procedures in several TikTok posts that have been viewed thousands of times.
Kate Starbird, co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington, said disaster events are often politicized, adding that social media “captures attention with sensationalism and outrage.”
Starbird said, “Manipulating the understanding process (for example by spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation) and politicizing the event will make it harder to respond and recover now – and how to prepare for and mitigate the next one.” It will be difficult to make informed decisions about it.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)