After the deluge, the lies: Misinformation and hoaxes about Helene cloud the recovery
WASHINGTON — The facts that emerge The destruction of Hurricane Helene are heartbreaking: businesses and homes destroyed, entire communities nearly wiped out, hundreds of lives lost, hundreds of people missing.
Yet this devastation and despair is not enough for the extremist groups, disinformation agents, hucksters and politicians who are exploiting the disaster to spread false claims and conspiracy theories about the disaster and the government’s response.
According to former President Donald Trump, the federal government is the intentional withholding of support to Republican disaster victims. Far-right extremist groups are warning on social media that officials plan to bulldoze affected communities and confiscate residents’ land. A story straight out of science fiction claims that Washington used this weather control technology to steer Helene toward Republican voters to tilt the presidential election toward Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
The claims say less, according to experts and local officials involved in disaster relief the reality of Helene’s widespread harm than what they do about broken American politics and the fear And distrust shadows of an election year marked by assassination attempts And escalating global tension.
While the rescue work continues and authorities try to separate fact from fiction, the conspiracy theories are not helping. Elected leaders from both parties have had to set the record straight and urged people not to give in to fear and rumors.
“If everyone could put the hate aside for a moment and help, that would be great,” the post said Glen Jacobsthe retired professional wrestler known as Kane, who is now the Republican mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. Jacobs’ post was intended to refute rumors that workers from the Federal Agency for Emergency Management seized relief supplies from private citizens.
Many of the conspiracy theories focus on hard hit North Carolinaa state key to winning the White House. Rumors swirled that FEMA was raiding storm donations and withholding body bags, forcing local hospitals to pile up victims’ bodies. One claim suggested that federal authorities would condemn the entire town of Chimney Rock and ban resettlement in order to seize a valuable lithium mine nearby.
Elon Muskthe owner of Tesla,
Despite the tradition of Democrats and Republicans putting politics aside for disaster relief, many conspiracy theories suggest that Democrats like President Joe Biden or North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper are deliberately withholding aid from Republicans. Trump has made the claim, as has North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson controversial GOP candidate for governor.
“They are being treated very poorly in the Republican areas,” Trump told Fox News, ignoring reports and photo and video evidence of recovery efforts underway across the region. “They don’t get water, they don’t get anything.”
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones endorsed Trump’s fact-free claim. Jones, the founder of InfoWars, popularized the idea that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, which killed 20 children in 2012, was a hoax. “Exclusive: Victims of Hurricane Helene confirm the federal government is purposefully blocking emergency workers and stealing aid in an effort to keep deep red areas from voting,” Jones wrote on X on Thursday.
State-run media and disinformation campaigns by China and Russia have amplified false and misleading claims about the response to the storm. Both countries have used social media and state news stories to criticize responses to U.S. natural disasters in the past, as part of a larger effort to that end fueling division and distrust among Americans.
State and local officials from both parties have condemned the conspiracy theories as hearsay and say the focus should be on recovery, not political division and rumors. Responding to the hoaxes takes time that should be spent helping victims, said North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin, a Republican who urged his constituents not to give in to hoaxes.
“Friends, can I ask a small favor?” Corbin posted on Facebook on Thursday. “Will you all please help STOP this clutter of conspiracy theories floating around all over Facebook and the internet… Please don’t let these crazy stories consume you.”
After Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, posted that government officials had failed to prepare for the storm, a spokesman for the governor accused Robinson of creating “an online disinformation campaign.” North Carolina officials say the response to Helene is the largest in the state’s history, including thousands of National Guard members and other recovery workers, millions of meals, dozens of planes and more than a thousand chainsaws.
Trump has tried to link the aftermath of the hurricane to immigration, a major issue of his campaign. He falsely claimed that FEMA had run out of money because it had all gone to programs for undocumented immigrants.
From the agency Funding for disaster relief is limitedbut that’s because many parts of the country are dealing with the consequences of hurricanes, forest fires and other calamities. Disaster Assistance is funded separately from other Department of Homeland Security programs that support immigration-related expenses.
Bizarre stories suggesting that the government has used it weather control technology to aim the hurricane at Republican voters quickly racked up millions of views on X and other platforms.
Representative Marjorie Taylor GreeneR-Ga., endorsed the idea, posting on X on Wednesday: “Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous when someone lies and says it’s not possible.”
Distant stories about space lasersfake snow and weather control technology — sometimes imbued with anti-Semitism – have spread following recent natural disasters, including: snowstorm in Texas And last year’s forest fire in Maui.
Experts who study conspiracy theories say that major events such as disasters – or the September 11 attacks or the Covid-19 pandemic – creating perfect conditions for conspiracy theories to spread, as large numbers of anxious people are eager to find explanations for shocking events.
In response to the volume of false claims about Helene, the Red Cross urged people to consult reliable sources of information and think twice before reposting conspiracy theories.
“Sharing rumors online without first investigating the source and verifying the facts ultimately hurts people – people who have just lost their homes, neighborhoods and, in some cases, loved ones,” the organization wrote in a public plea.