Misinformation has hurt Helene's recovery efforts: What you need to know

When Trevor Allen and his family emerged from under the kitchen table where they barricaded themselves during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, devastation from flooding in their neighborhood shocked him.

That includes the flood of disinformation and misinformation that quickly appeared on social media, including about his own community in North Carolina, where he is pastor of Fairview Christian Fellowship. The situation in Fairview was “absolutely terrible,” Allen said. The social messages didn’t have to ‘make it worse’.

Experts were not surprised by the baseless rumors and divisive reports that emerged. They have documented a growing flow of such material following natural disasters in the United States.

Misinformation and false rumors have been around as long as there have been emergencies, says Jamie Biglow, a consultant who works at CNA on emergency planning for a range of disasters. a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC research and analysis organization.

However, social media has given purveyors of accidentally or deliberately inaccurate or harmful information a wider and faster platform. Experts at CNA said the avalanche of messages after Helene and the forest fires in Maui is just an example of how ubiquitous it is and how fast it moves.

Even as many rallied in Helene’s aftermath, using social media to do so collect donations and get help to people in need, divisive and inaccurate messages This has prompted officials, agencies and even storm victims to do so go online to refute the misinformation and beg for cooperation.

Biglow and others are urging social media users to look more skeptically at posts and think twice before sharing them during emergencies. They say many who see and share it may be surprised to learn the origins of some of the messages or the true intent behind them.

Intentional interference

In addition to social media influencers and others who post inaccurate information to gain attention, foreign governments are deliberately deploying misinformation in the wake of disasters, said Megan McBride, senior scientific researcher at CNA.

The misleading messages and false stories spread by foreign governments on social media, commonly called disinformation, aim to sow discontent and ill will among American citizens, McBride said. It creates “friction or tension between American citizens and their trust in their government.”

The US government and other research organizations traced disinformation to the Chinese Communist Party and to Russia, including after previous disasters Hurricane Katrina in 2005McBride said. It’s “almost as if there are scripts” that the Chinese and Russian governments can pick up and follow after disasters, she said.

“Beijing exploits natural disasters as propaganda opportunities to undermine trust in the U.S. government both domestically and internationally,” said CNA senior China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs researcher Heidi Holz. The Chinese Community Party seeks to “exploit divisions within American society and spread disinformation both overtly and covertly in ways that have the potential to complicate U.S. disaster relief efforts,” she said.

The same kinds of problems exist with Russia, she said. Since the summer, federal officials have announced this was the case at least three times linked false or misleading social posts to Russian efforts. Federal agencies said in early November the Russian government spread false information in the days leading up to the elections.

McBride and Biglow say Americans can learn to distinguish truth from fiction help disrupt the efforts of foreign governments and others.

Taking advantage of emotions

Misleading or erroneous messages are not always with malicious intent. “It could come from a place of genuine concern,” Biglow said. At other times, such posts are driven by “less noble feelings of ‘I want the likes or I want the attention,’ or to promote a particular narrative.”

Wherever the messages come from, they attempt to appeal to basic human emotions after a disaster.

Emotion will always trump facts when people have trouble processing information, says Andy Carvin, research director at New York University The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.

A vivid example after Helene was a rumor that spread in tearful videos and social posts advocating for donations of body bags for flood victims recovered from the destruction. Two social media users who shared the plea, including one nonprofit, said they could not verify the source or accuracy of the request. Three others did not return messages from the US TODAY seeking more information.

Officials from Tennessee and North Carolina said there was no such need, but sufficient supplies were available. There was no information reported “either anecdotally or through official channels that would suggest any basis for these claims,” said Sarah Lewis Peel, a communications officer who works with North Carolina Emergency Management.

Disaster and disinformation

Whether the influencers were foreign or domestic, the flood of misinformation on social media after Helene appalled residents and officials who were already overwhelmed by the scale of the real disaster they were facing.

When the immediate danger passed, he and a neighbor at Allen’s house grabbed a chainsaw and made their way out of the driveway, only to find the road “completely gone,” Allen said. It was eroded when a small creek that was barely flowing “rose about twenty feet high and destroyed everything in its path.”

The rushing water lifted the trees into a pile 40 feet high and 100 feet wide and moved huge boulders the size of cars, he said. After being rescued by firefighters in an all-terrain vehicle, the family’s ride into town was a “tour of absolute destruction.”

Fairview Christian Fellowship became a distribution location for food, water and toiletries. People lingered to talk and pray about lost loved ones, Allen said. Meanwhile, his community and others were rocked by sensational but inaccurate stories circulating on social media.

He read a message reporting gruesome scenes of dead bodies in a local park he knew well. “I’ve driven past that park a hundred times and haven’t seen a single deceased person.”

“There are people who were stuck in the mud, stuck in logs and swept away,” he said. ‘It’s bad enough. You don’t have to overhype it.”

He said the misinformation was deeply disturbing to those left behind.

“There are people who have empty chairs at the table right now,” he said. “Sensationalizing it is absolutely disrespectful to the memories of those lost and their families.”

Tackling disinformation

Elsewhere in the region, government officials used social media to tackle the misinformation.

North Carolina State Sen. Kevin Corbin, R-Raleigh, appealed to his friends and constituents on Facebook. “Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory garbage floating all over Facebook and the Internet about the flooding in (Western North Carolina)?” Corbin posted. “It’s just a distraction for people trying to do their jobs.”

FEMA and the State of North Carolina have launched web pages to debunk rumors and provide accurate information.

Governments should prepare plans in advance so they can start communicating and getting ahead of disinformation immediately after a disaster, Carvin and others say.

From a distance, watching the social media rumors during the Helene disaster was “devastating and horrifying, as we considered what we would do if we were in a similar situation,” said Kristin Hogan Schildwachter, chief communications officer for the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management.

“Having the ability to recognize something quickly so that we can demystify or debunk it and address it quickly is really crucial,” Schildwachter said. “The long-term effects can be disastrous, especially in a situation where it’s confusing and people are scared and looking for that trusted source of information.”

She and Biglow suggested that local governments work together with a national network of fusion centers established by state governments in partnership with Homeland Security to collect and share threat-related information.

The centers detect disinformation and can help develop plans to tackle it, Schildwachter said. She added that it is important to coordinate with those involved in law enforcement and cyberterrorism, who are on the lookout for nefarious figures seeking to “derail efficient emergency response.”

Biglow also recommends officials know what the hot-button issues are in their community, work on consistent messaging with other local agencies and governments and “have counter-narratives that are prepared for that,” and identify trusted voices in the community to help combat disinformation.

How you can help stop the spread of false information

Americans can be “the first line of defense” in protecting their friends, neighbors, families and loved ones from misinformation and disinformation by learning to critically evaluate what they read and share, McBride said.

It’s important that people understand the consequences of sharing bad information in the real world, she said. For example, sharing an inaccurate message about a road closure could prompt someone to take a longer route while rushing a loved one to the hospital.

One problem with content on social media is that people often don’t know where the content they’re viewing comes from, McBride says.

“If I receive content from my great-aunt Gertrude, it is very unlikely that my great-aunt is the one who created that content,” she said. A meme cannot contain any marks “indicating it was created by a Russian troll.”

CNA and others recommend these steps:

Be extremely skeptical of content that really makes you angry. If you’re looking at something that infuriates you, take a closer look, McBride said.
Recognize that as humans we are vulnerable to content that aligns with our pre-existing beliefs or evokes strong emotions, making it more likely to be shared.
Ask yourself if it’s true, and also if you really need to be the person sharing the message.
Try to find current local information.

“We will never be able to completely get rid of misinformation and disinformation because we live in a free information environment,” Biglow said. “What we do want to do is limit it and encourage people to be aware of the potential.”