False claims about the federal government’s response to Helene are an ominous sign for the upcoming election

new York
CNN
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False claims about the federal response to the historic devastation left by Hurricane Helene are spreading out of control on social media, hindering recovery efforts in the hardest-hit areas, according to local officials.

The flood of misinformation about the Biden administration’s response to the destructive storm is an ominous sign for the upcoming election, as the presidential contest between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is sure to spark further attacks on the truth.

“If you think the lies, distortions and ignorance about FEMA are bad, just wait until this time next month,” Tim Alberta, editor and writer at The Atlantic, wrote on X, a major platform , where falsehoods were spread faster than facts.

Elon Musk, the X owner who has supported Trump, has repeatedly published rumors and innuendos denigrating the federal government’s response to Helene. Most of the misinformation is brazenly political, portraying President Joe Biden and Harris as incompetent to help Trump get re-elected.

Politicians and emergency responders in the disaster zone stretching from Georgia to North Carolina, including many Republican elected officials, have debunked the lies and urged people to stop spreading unconfirmed rumors on social media.

Kerry Giles, the public information officer for Rutherford County, N.C., told CNN on Saturday that debunking the rumors “wasted resources that could have been used more effectively in recovery efforts.”

Giles and her colleagues issued a statement Friday putting an end to several online lies about the destroyed towns of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock Village. No, they said, the government would not take over Chimney Rock; No, there is no discussion about confiscating property; No, there are not bodies “everywhere” as a result of the storm.

“Snopes.com and regional media outlets covered much of the debunking, which helped reduce the spread of some misinformation,” Giles told CNN.

One of the most common lies spread on social media is FEMA’s response. Trump has falsely claimed that aid money was being withheld from predominantly Republican areas after the agency allocated aid to help migrants.

“A billion dollars was stolen from FEMA to be used on illegal migrants,” Trump falsely claimed Friday in Georgia.

But Trump actually accused the Biden administration of an act very similar to what he did as president.

“Republican elected officials keep debunking the nonsense and MAGA doesn’t care,” conservative columnist David French said in a social media post Saturday. “They follow liars, and when the liars lie, they believe them and hate anyone who tells the truth.”

Experienced users of to reduce viral misinformation and the recovery of conspiracy theorists’ reports.

FEMA officials have released a rumor control page to refute false claims, including the claim that they are “seizing donations for survivors.” Mike Rothschild, a journalist who has written two books about conspiracy theory culture, called FEMA’s efforts “noble but doomed to fail.” He wrote down

Or, as the hosts of the progressive podcast Appodlachia put it more bluntly: “The Internet has broken people’s brains.”

Misleading AI-generated images purporting to be from the disaster area are circulating on Facebook, prompting a local news station to publish an explanation on “how to spot AI-generated Helene storm photos.”

As North Carolina columnist Billy Ball wrote Friday, “We have many crises in the United States, but few are as significant as the information crisis.” People lie to us to make us hate each other to get our money or to support one cause or another.”

And all signs point to an even worse climate once vote counting begins next month.