A group of House Democrats representing areas affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton are calling on the leaders of major technology companies to do more to combat the flurry of misinformation online about the extreme weather.
In a letter sent Friday, Reps. Deborah Ross (N.C.), Kathy Castor (Fla.), Nikema Williams (Ga.) and Wiley Nickel (N.C.) wrote they have observed a “troubling surge in misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories and scams” in the aftermath of Helene and Milton.
This stream of misinformation is hindering the recovery process in the South, the lawmakers wrote, echoing comments made on the issue earlier this week by President Biden and a host of other federal, state and local leaders.
“Disaster response agencies, climate scientists and rescue organizations work tirelessly to provide critical information and render assistance to those impacted by catastrophic events,” the lawmakers wrote. “The lies, scams, and conspiracies widely circulating on your platforms compromise their ability to work effectively and place the lives and safety of Americans at risk.”
The lawmakers pointed to the series of false claims online about Helene’s origin and the government’s response and assistance that has followed.
In North Carolina, scams spread encouraging users to apply for fake relief programs from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) while misleading information about shelter and resources also circulated.
The letter was sent to the heads of the social platforms X, Meta, Discord, YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram. The Hill reached out to the companies for comment.
The lawmakers laid out a series of steps they believe will prevent the further spread of falsehoods. This includes increased monitoring and removal of misinformation and disinformation, enhanced fact-checking partnerships with local agencies and disaster relief organizations and stronger safeguards against scams. Algorithms also should be “strengthened” to better flag conspiracy theories, the lawmakers argued.
A spokesperson for X told The Hill the company looks “forward to responding to the letter.” The platform includes a “Community Notes” crowdsourcing feature intended to fact-check false or misleading posts.
To combat misinformation on TikTok, the company said it is directing users who watch hurricane-related content to FEMA’s official website to “verify natural disaster info.”
TikTok said it does not permit misinformation that causes harm to individuals or society, or includes violent threats.
X said all the Community Notes on weather-related posts received more than 44 million views as of Wednesday.
The false claims began shortly after Helene hit Florida, Georgia and North Carolina late last month, leaving widespread destruction and an extensive recovery process for hundreds of thousands of residents.
Falsehoods about the weather’s origins and government assistance were among some of the most shared claims on social media, including by some politicians like former President Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)
Trump baselessly claimed last week the government is purposely withholding aid from Republican hurricane victims while FEMA is redirecting disaster relief funds to migrants.
Both of these claims have been refuted by FEMA, which created a page titled “Hurricane Rumor Response,” for users to see debunked rumors about the agency’s response.
The embrace of such theories by online users, including high-profile figures like Trump, prompted the Biden administration to issue a series of pointed remarks against the spread of misinformation this week.