How to navigate the storm of natural disaster misinformation.

From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Kimberly Adams.

Online misinformation about Hurricanes Helene and Milton and about the relief response from the Federal Emergency Management Administration have surged in recent weeks, ranging from false narratives of aid being withheld from specific victims for their political beliefs to aid being stolen by undocumented immigrants.

Ethan Porter, Professor of Media, Public Affairs, and Political Science at George Washington University

explained why we've been seeing so much misinformation about these natural disasters

and FEMA's relief response.

When people are uncertain, when they're scared, when they're confused, that's when they turn to misinformation,

they might find it a solace of sorts, it provides answers clarifying simple answers in times where

you know actual answers are hard to come by the most successful misinformation is

provocative whereas ambiguity. Whereas ambiguity is hard to deal with, hard to

wrestle with, and uncertainty leads people to sort of chase the easy medicine of

misinformation. Social media amplifies misinformation, it spreads

misinformation quickly. The other factor here that I don't want to discount and I think we

sometimes overlook is that political leaders are

embracing endorsing, endorsing, disseminating misinformation. That's new. Political scientists have long

showed that people who are loyal to a

particular party follow the claims made by the leaders of that party. So and this

goes for members of both parties. Leaders of the Republican Party in

particular have decided to embrace and promote

false claims about the storm and people on that side believe it. That's deeply

concerning I would say and it's certainly part of the problem.

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