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Social media users are suggesting a video shows a laser beam igniting the wildfires that burned through the US state of Hawaii in August 2023. This is false; the clip was filmed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and appears to show lightning.
Right-wing media and conspiracy theorists are using Hawaii’s recent fires — including the most deadly U.S. wildfire of the past century — to repurpose misinformation, cast doubt on the role of climate change, and vilify the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals while spreading bizarre conspiracy theories, including claims that the fires were secretly started by “directed energy weapons” from a Chinese satellite. YouTube and Meta are profiting off of ads on content that amplifies this harmful misinformation. The fires, which have killed over 100 people in the historic community...
Climate change-denying social media accounts are exploiting the deadly wildfires in Hawaii to push conspiracy theories that high-energy lasers were used to spark the flames. Posts invoking such technologies or claiming the blazes were set intentionally to create climate-friendly cities have generated millions of engagements on platforms such as X.Ȃ...
Conspiracy theories are suggesting the Maui wildfires were planned by distorting the facts around a recent and upcoming conference. Similarly, posts are wrongly suggesting standing trees and poles amid the
Climate change-denying social media accounts are exploiting the deadly wildfires in Hawaii to push conspiracy theories that high-energy lasers were used to spark the flames.