Extreme Weather: false claims spread unchecked
Social media companies let false claims about the LA Fires and Hurricane Helene spread unchecked.
Executive summary
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CCDH examined the 100 most-liked posts about extreme weather events on each of three platforms — X, YouTube, and Meta (Facebook/Instagram) — for a combined sample of 300 posts, assessing the prevalence of false or misleading claims and the platforms' fact-checking response.
False or misleading claims about events such as the Los Angeles wildfires and Hurricane Helene were viewed 221 million times across the three platforms, while fact-checks or Community Notes appeared on fewer than 2% of the flagged posts (roughly 98% uncorrected on Facebook/Instagram, 99% on X, and 100% on YouTube). A large share of the misleading content came from verified accounts — 88% on X, 73% on YouTube, 64% on Meta — some of which received creator monetization or paid-subscriber support. One creator's false wildfire claims on X reached 408 million views, more than the combined reach of ten major news outlets and emergency agencies.
The report concludes that platforms are algorithmically amplifying and, in some cases, financially rewarding disaster misinformation while providing negligible fact-checking, undermining emergency communication during crises.
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