Democrats and Republicans say misinformation is hurting Helene Relief

• Officials are urging people to stop spreading misinformation amid Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
• Both Republicans and Democrats have spewed misinformation and false rumors.
• Donald Trump and Elon Musk amplified the false claims.

As relief workers respond to the devastation in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, government officials on both sides of the aisle are calling for a cease-fire of misinformation.

Since the hurricane hit Florida and swept through for Carolina, the storm itself was contained another powerful force: American politics in a presidential election year.

Some social media users share unsubstantiated claims, some accompanied by falsehoods AI-generated photos criticizing the response of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the government’s disaster relief group and, by extension, President Joe Biden’s administration.

“It’s not necessarily unusual for emergencies to be a breeding ground for disinformation and disinformation, but I think we’ve seen a particularly large amount of false claims proliferating at the moment,” said Mekela Panditharatne, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit policy institute at New York University School of Law, told Business Insider. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s so close to a very important national election.”

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump, posted on his social media that “FEMA is failing to help AND will not let others help” and reposted similar claims from others .

Musk shared another claim that Asheville, North Carolina airspace was closed to block recovery efforts, prompting a fact-check from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who said the Federal Aviation Administration does not close the airspace. Buttigieg told Musk to call him with any issues, and after they spoke on the phone, Musk posted that the flights were underway and thanked Buttigieg.

Trump took advantage of the disaster to criticize the Biden administration and, by extension, his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, saying the Biden administration “stole FEMA money” and “spent it all on illegal immigrants,” the Washington Post reported.

His comments came after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said FEMA would need more money from Congress to get through the rest of the hurricane season.

A Washington Post investigation found no evidence that the Biden administration used disaster relief funds for the migrant crisis. However, during the 2019 hurricane season, Trump himself approved the use of $155 million in disaster relief funds for detaining immigrants at the border, the Post reported.

Bipartisan calls to stop the spread of “junk” information.

Following the rise of false rumors, FEMA has created a searchable fact-check page to address misinformation about relief efforts. In North Carolina, the Department of Public Safety also shared a social media fact-check that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper posted.

Republicans have also joined the fight against fake news. Kevin Corbin, a Republican member of the North Carolina Senate, launched a plea on Facebook for people to stop spreading “conspiracy theory issues.” He listed outlandish claims he said he and other officials have heard, from accusations that “FEMA is stealing money from donations” to “the government controls the weather in Antarctica.”

“It’s just a distraction to people trying to do their jobs,” Corbin wrote.

US Senator Thom Tillis, also a Republican, echoed Corbin’s comments on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on CBS News on Sunday. He said many of the claims “aren’t even from people on the ground” and complicate rescue and recovery operations.

“It’s at the expense of first responders and people who are just trying to get their lives back.Tillis said. “Quite frankly, most of what we’ve seen there is a distraction and doesn’t help the core effort right here, which is to save lives and start rebuilding.”

Panditharatne said BI that the spread of misinformation can “discourage people from seeking the assistance they need during this time of crisis.”

“It’s perfectly legitimate to express an opinion or criticize the sufficiency of a response, but a number of claims we’re seeing, particularly from high-profile actors and politicians, are baseless and contradict verifiable facts or not supported by evidence,” a she said. “Where that’s the case, I think it can divert public information and resources and demoralize officials on the ground.”

In a crisis, there can be gaps in available information, creating a vacuum for disinformation to “flood in to fill the void,” Panditharatne said. However, she added that this is no excuse.

“I think anyone like Musk, who has significant influence over the information ecosystem, should feel a sense of responsibility to promote information that doesn’t undermine people’s ability to access the help they need or it undermines officials’ response to a crisis,” she said.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. X representatives did not immediately respond either.