Russia shares AI images of Hurricane Milton as disinformation abounds in U.S.
Disinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding Milton began long before the storm even made landfall. Since last week, Donald Trump has been spreading lies about the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, accusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) of “abandoning” North Carolina residents in what is a hotly contested state in the November presidential election.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), an extremism and disinformation watchdog organization, told the Guardian that hostile actors are known for using manipulated images and propaganda posts to undermine western democracies in times of crisis.
Russia is one of the most infamous offenders of such tactics.
“It’s well-known that Kremlin-backed outlets and the Kremlin itself often exploit natural disasters and political crises to sow chaos and spread misinformation for their own gain,” said Moustafa Ayad, ISD executive director for Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “The use of this image is no different.”
Through online chatter in places like Telegram, far-right trolls seized on the moment Milton began to pick up steam and barrel towards Florida, using the suspicions around Helene as a catalyst.
“Simulation,” posted one popular extremist channel days ago, accusing the hurricane of being a government creation.
Another post, from the same channel and viewed thousands of times, went further, posting an image of the storm in the form of an antisemitic cartoon as it approached Florida.
“Pray for Florida and everyone else whose lives are being destroyed while our tax money gets shipped to satanists and other people who hate White Christians,” said the post referring to Israel’s military operations in the Middle East.
Today, one adjacent channel, known for crafting neo-Nazi takes on the news, accused the government of using “stratospheric aerosols” to create Milton.
Some of the most blatant misinformation has come from the halls of Congress.
On Monday, the congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene doubled down on her own track record of misinformation directly accusing the federal government of storm manufacturing. [Continue reading…]