8. What has the response to Helene been like on social media?
Hurricane Helene proved to be the most devastating hurricane in the contiguous U.S. with over 249 fatalities, the biggest natural tragedy since Katrina in 2005. The United States has beene experiencing a growing flood of misinformation and rumors that took social media by storm after Helene. As people rallied together to provide donation platforms on GoFundMe as well as Facebook and Instagram, there was also talk of the government being able to control the weather, falsified AI images of Helene’s devastation, as well as President Trump claiming that hurricane relief funds are being spent on migrants.
As those who experienced Hurricane Helene first hand continue to share about their experiences online, we see verified accounts responding to these posts telling people that these first hand accounts are lies, and created by AI. Conspiracy theories about hurricane Helene consume social media and continue to discount the stories and experiences of those who experienced great loss during Helene and who are still trying to rebuild their lives now. Verified accounts on X, a platform owned by Elon Musk, are now able to be bought instead of vetted meaning their posts take priority over the algorithm while also earning income based on how viral their posts go. This turned X into chaos with misinformation everywhere stunting posts about raising money for relief as “trendier” posts about the U.S. government geo-engineering storms took over the top searches.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e8q50y3v7o : How Hurricane Helene Conspiracy Theories Took Over Social Media
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/11/14/disinformation-hurt-helene-recovery-efforts/75827959007/ : Disinformation Hurt Helene Recovery Efforts
https://www.ncdps.gov/our-organization/emergency-management/hurricane-helene/ground-truth-facts-helene-response : Website posted by NC DPS in response to the swell of misinformation being posted online. Titled “Ground Truth”.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/us/hurricane-helene-north-carolina-misinformation.html : More information on Hurricane Helene and how social media turned critical information into chaos.