Days after Maui's wildfires killed scores of people and destroyed thousands of homes last August, a shocking claim spread with alarming speed on YouTube and TikTok: The blaze on the Hawaiian island was set deliberately, using futuristic energy weapons developed by the U.S. military. Claims of “evidence” soon emerged: video footage on TikTok showing a beam of blinding white light, too straight to be lightning, zapping a residential neighborhood and sending flames and smoke into the sky. The video was shared many millions of times, amplified by neo-Nazis, anti-government radicals and supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, and presented as proof that America's leaders had turned on the country's citizens.
A Fox News host suggested this week that Taylor Swift is a "front for a covert political agenda," echoing disinformation that has percolated in right-wing circles for months and which experts say will likely get worse before the 2024 US election.Fox News declined to comment on the record for this story.
Disinformation aims to destabilise institutions, discredit good intentions, defame opponents and delegitimise sources of knowledge like science and journalism.