In the direct wake of an extreme weather event, information systems are scrambled and chaos reigns, providing a unique opportunity for misinformation and conspiracies to spread.
It is a phenomenon that Grist reporters have witnessed with increasing alarm in recent years: After a winter storm hit Virginia in January, rumors swirled online that the event was caused by the Leviathan waking up. NOAA scientists have long had to fact-check false claims that geoengineering or the U.S. government creates and steers hurricanes. People often refuse to evacuate a storm because they’ve heard that the FEMA will steal their property. And after Hurricane Helene in 2024, federal disaster response efforts were disrupted by rumors of a militia attack on FEMA employees. The swarm of untruths has gotten so bad that FEMA now often puts out anti-misinformation bulletins after disasters.
As climate change fuels more extreme weather events, this problem is only getting worse. Today, Grist launched a new series, “Distorted: Tr... Read more
