Misinformation about California fires is spreading like, well, wildfire
The internet has exploded with fake images of the Hollywood sign burning, conspiracy theories about satanic rituals, and misinformation about government property seizures.
Southern Californiaâs devastating wildfires have spawned a cottage industry in false information spreading rapidly online, forcing the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the governor and local officials to dedicate time and resources to pushing back against the most prevalent rumors and lies.
Over the last decade, it has become common for large-scale disasters to turn into a feeding frenzy for internet trolls, political provocateurs and bad actors from foreign countries looking to sow chaos, confusion and dissent, according to Sam Wineburg, emeritus professor at Stanford University and co-principal of the Digital Inquiry Group, a nonprofit focused on digital literacy.
RELATED:Â Break in winds allows crews to make big gain on Eaton fire; containment grows on Palisades fire, too
But now, the rise of artificially generated images and text has only made it easier for a single person to wreak havoc on social media, Wineburg said.âIrrespective of where you are on the political spectrum, if you have an ax to grind, the barrier for creating a myriad of messages and putting them into the information stream is so low,â Wineburg said. âIt doesnât take much.â
Misinformation can circulate quickly, either knowingly by bad actors, including foreign governments, or unintentionally by people who donât take the time or have the knowledge or technical skills to verify it first, Wineburg said. Outrage and emotion are used to drive engagement and circumvent rational thinking, he added.
âIf we had a little patience and took a deep breath and waited five minutes before we pressed share, there would be a lot less havoc and a lot less garbage littering our social media feeds,â he said
Governor creates websiteIn response to the deluge of misinformation, Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out a new website, CaliforniaFireFacts.com, over the weekend to debunk everything from whether budgetary cuts and protections for a fish impacted firefighting, to a fake image of the Hollywood sign burning and conspiracy theories about satanic rituals and pedophile rings.
The website is not state-run, but rather operated by the governorâs political side. Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for the governorâs office, explained the difficulties of combating rumors and lies amid a disaster and the importance of delivering accurate, trustworthy information to those who need it.
âYouâre not just battling a false narrative on one account, but several major accounts, and then all of the accounts regurgitating their content,â Richards said. âIf people do not trust the government during times of emergency â whether that be evacuation notices or, later on, recovery and rebuilding efforts â without a doubt that is dangerous, and could be deadly.â
The Palisades and Eaton Fires, two of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles Countyâs history, have killed at least 24 and destroyed more than 12,000 structures. Experts have attributed the growth and intensity of the blazes to the unusually high winds last week and to the whiplash of going from record rainfall the last two years to extreme dryness.
But that hasnât stopped the proliferation of rumors, conspiracy theories and intentional misinformation about the disasters, their causes and the efforts to put out the flames.
Smoke and flames surround the Villa de Leon along Pacific Coast Highway in the Palisades Fire on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025 The mansion offers views of the Pacific Coast Highway and the Pacific Ocean, located near the Getty Villa. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)Â Some of the rumorsSome played to localsâ fears of losing longtime institutions to the blazes. Early rumors about the complete destruction of Palisades Charter High School and the Getty Villa, for example, later turned out to have exaggerated the extent of damages, though neither was unscathed.
Others seemed targeted to create outrage about bureaucracy, or to take advantage of those waiting to return to their homes.
The Oregon State fire marshal had to take to social media Jan. 12 to address misinformation claiming fire trucks from Californiaâs northern neighbor were stuck at the border due to smog checks, when in reality, there was a brief â and routine â mechanical safety check that did not create any delays.
âNo engine was turned away,â the post reads. âThey all completed the safety check and all 15 strike teams arrived in Southern California on Thursday and began their 24-hour shift early Friday morning.â
On Tuesday, Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart issued a warning dispelling rumors about a âpermitâ that supposedly would allow expedited reentry into evacuation zones and urged residents to adhere to evacuation orders.
âAny claim or offers to provide such a permit are false,â Stewart said in a statement. âAdditionally, we are aware that some residents have hired private contractors who are requesting access to the evacuation zones. Private contractor access is not permitted at this time.â
Kernels of truthSome of the misinformation builds off tiny kernels of truth.
For example, critics have blamed the scale of the fires on alleged budget cuts to firefighting at the state level and locally by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The California Fire Facts website contests that narrative, arguing that CalFireâs budget and number of personnel have both nearly doubled since 2019. A report by Mashable confirmed that while there were cuts to the initial proposal for wildfire funding this year, the stateâs 2024-25 budget ultimately provided more funds than previously.
The Los Angeles Daily News found a similar situation when reviewing Los Angelesâ budget. Critics pointed to a $17 million reduction to the Los Angeles Fire Departmentâs operating budget, but those figures did not include $76 million set aside for salaries that increased the budget overall by at least $53 million. However, Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has publicly blamed cuts over the long term for hampering firefightersâ ability to respond to the wildfires.
Issues with the water supply during the early days of the Palisades and Eaton fires drew controversy as well. Hydrants at higher elevations in the Pacific Palisades did, indeed, run dry during the worst of the firefighting, but rumors about poor maintenance and regional water shortages have not panned out so far.
Firefighting officials and experts have uniformly agreed the localized shortages experienced during the highest firefighting demand in both Pacific Palisades and Altadena were not out of the ordinary and have more to do with the fact that municipal water systems are designed to fight a small number of structure fires, not massive firestorms.
More than a hundred water-carrying tankers have been deployed by the state and the LADWP since then. One reservoir, the Santa Ynez Reservoir, was empty at the time due to safe water drinking regulations and might have helped if it had been online, but there are record levels of water stored across the region, officials said.
Newsomâs office has called for an independent investigation into the dry hydrants and the reservoir, and LADWP has pledged to carry out its own probe as well.
FEMA fights backThe spread of misinformation has prompted FEMA to update its âCommon Disaster-Related Rumorsâ to include rumors specifically related to the fires in Southern California. The new entries debunk rumors claiming FEMA takes peopleâs property if they apply for assistance and makes it clear that assistance is not limited to a single, one-time payment.
Jayce Genco, a deputy press secretary for FEMA, said the agency has been proactive about fighting misleading information for more than decade.
âWe want as many people to apply for FEMA assistance as possible in the impacted areas,â Genco said. âWe want to make sure they have the most accurate, up-to-date information they can have to apply for that assistance.â
Facts ânot easy to findâKristina Lerman, principal scientist at USCâs Information Science Institute, said that while online conspiracy theories have been common since 9/11, the polarization of the country in recent years has enabled people on both sides of the political spectrum to use disasters to advance their agendas.
âEven I was shocked by how much misdirection of information there is,â Lerman said of the wildfires. âIf you want to find out what is happening, where the danger is, itâs not that easy to find.â
Misinformation can take seconds to create, but hours to verify and debunk, she said. The sense of urgency during a disaster can lead even those with good intentions to share falsities. Restrictions preventing someone from sharing an article before reading could potentially help, but currently none of the social media platforms has such a prohibition, Lerman noted.
âThis really goes to the core of how our social media ecosystem is designed and monetized,â she said. âUnfortunately, the current design promotes and encourages all kinds of anti-social behavior and anti-social content.â
Influencers seeking more views and more engagement as a result of monetization systems are treated as reliable sources regardless of whether they have the resumes to support it, she said.
âExpertise does matter, credentials do matter, integrity and professionalism do matter,â Lerman said. âPeople should be selecting their trusted sources based on this.â
Lerman credited the emergence of new resources, such as the Watch Duty App, for providing critical and reliable information.
Digital literacy neededIn the meantime, agencies will have to keep pushing back against misleading narratives.
Wineburg, of the Digital Inquiry Group, believes the best solution in the long term is to expand access to digital literacy programs that teach students how to filter through unreliable sources and bad actors, he said. He compared it to learning traffic laws while preparing to obtain a driverâs license.
âPeople are using the internet without even knowing that you shouldnât cross the digital equivalent of two yellow lines,â he said. âHow can we expect to be facile at something that no one has ever taught us to use?â
Audience engagement producer Carolyn Burt contributed to this article.
Originally Published: January 16, 2025 at 4:28 AM PST
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