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AFP has debunked other claims about the Los Angeles fires.

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cbs

U.S.

Wildfire conspiracy theories are going viral again. Why?

By

Laura Doan,

Erielle Delzer

January 16, 2025 CBS News

While investigators workto find out what caused multiple wildfires in the Los Angeles area, some conspiracies about the fires' origins have spread on social media platforms.

Posts about baseless theories — ranging from celebrity involvement to secret government weapons — have racked up millions of views.

Despite fact-checking efforts, researchers say conspiracies of this kind regularly emerge after large wildfires.

"I think that the more emotionally overwhelming it is, the more likely we are to just see high volumes of conspiracy theories to cope and make people feel like they have control," said misinformation researcher Abbie Richards.

Directed energy weapons conspiracy resurfaces

Misleading videos have fueled false claims that directed energy weapons, often referred to as DEWs, ignited the flames. The conspiracy theory suggests that governments or secret organizations use lasers or microwave systems to ignite fires.

Experts have repeatedly debunked these claims, attributing irregular burn patterns to natural factors like wind, terrain and vegetation.

While the U.S. has developed and tested DEWs for military applications — such as disabling enemy drones or missiles — there is no credible evidence of DEWs being employed in civilian settings, including for igniting wildfires.

The DEW theory also surfaced during the California wildfires of 2018, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claiming in a now-deleted social media post the fires could be caused by lasersfrom space. And online users spread the conspiracy during other disasters including the Canadian and Maui fires in 2023 and the Texas Smokehouse Creek wildfire in 2024.

"Most people will see this sort of stuff and completely reject it because it doesn't match with how they already view the world. But there are people who view the world through a conspiratorial lens," said Joseph Uscinski, co-author of "American Conspiracy Theories."

Claims that weather is manmade

Claims have circulated that the government could have geoengineered rain to stop the Los Angeles wildfires.

Theories that the government has some control over the weather have surfaced after several natural disasters, including hurricanes Helene and Milton. And meteorologists and agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have debunked these claims.

People blame the government or company executives because it's easier than facing structural problems, like drought conditions," Geoff Dancy, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, told CBS News.

"That is more attractive to people that are desperate for order amid catastrophe," Dancy said.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a December assessment on cloud seeding at least nine states are using the technology, which is "primarily funded at the state level or below" and there is little federal intervention.

For cloud seeding to be effective, the atmosphere around greater Los Angeles would have required more moisture in the clouds for water vapor to be condensed, Katja Friedrich, a cloud physics expert and professor at Colorado University at Boulder, told PolitiFact.

"The L.A. area is currently so dry that there is not enough water that you could condense," Friedrich said.

Land grab conspiracy

Another unfounded claim shared on social media suggests the Southern California wildfires were started to clear land so officials could make way for what are called "smart cities," aligned with United Nations' goals.

The U.N.'s agenda to cut global emissions includes making cities more sustainable. And the Los Angeles Area's SmartLA 2028 initiative suggests renovating the city's transportation systems, among other technological changes, to make the city greener — but the plan does not involve mass demolition or rebuilding.

This conspiracy also gained traction after the wildfires in Maui, when a video of Hawaii's governor was clipped, taken out of context and shared to bolster the false claim the state was aiming to create a "smart city" on scorched land. And similar theories were debunked after wildfires in Canada and Spain's Canary Islands.

Celebrity crime cover-up conspiracy

Some posts that reached millions of people on TikTok falsely claim the wildfires were sparked to destroy evidence in the sex trafficking case against Sean "Diddy" Combs — falsely claiming his mansion was consumed in flames.

In reality, Combs' mansion remains intact and outside the evacuation zone as of Jan. 16.

His home was raided in March by federal agents who seized evidence on the property, and People reported the home was listed for sale in September.

In an aerial view, the home of Sean "Diddy" Combs is seen during a raid by federal law enforcement agents on March 25, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. MEGA/GC Images/Getty Images

False claims about celebrity homes also spread after the Maui wildfire, with some users sharing baseless claims that Oprah Winfrey helped start those fires.

Addressing the spread of conspiracies

By coincidence, on the day the wildfires started, Facebook announced it was ending its third party fact checking program and loosening its automated systems that police policy violations, instead relying more on users to report issues before they take action. The platform is adopting a crowdsourced "community notes" system, similar to Elon Musk's X.

Dancy said conspiracy theorists are "benefitting from the information revolution" we live in. "It's an attention economy, and conspiracy theories get attention," Dancy said.

He advocates for regulating social media algorithms that prioritize sensational content.

Richards, who wrote a thesis about climate conspiracy theories circulating on TikTok, agreed.

The Storm Is Coming: Climate Change and Conspiracy Theories on TikTok Written by Abbie Richards 1048585 MSc. Thesis Environmental Policy Group Supervisor: Dr. Mattijs Smits December 2022

590388

DL file:///C:/Users/patmc/OneDrive/Documents/BOOK/storm_is_coming_climate_change_and_conspiracy_the-groen_kennisnet_590388.pdf

"You're fighting against algorithms that are designed for profit and not for creating a well-informed and healthy society," she said.

Figure 1 illustrates the percentage of users on popular social media

platforms who regularly get news on the platform (Pew Research Center, 2022). TikTok’s

dramatic increase in users seeking news is strikingly in opposition with other, more established

platforms 23 TO 33%! ALL OTHERS SOC MED FLAT OR DOWN

Figure 1 illustrates the percentage of users on popular social media

platforms who regularly get news on the platform (Pew Research Center, 2022). TikTok’s

dramatic increase in users seeking news is strikingly in opposition with other, more established

platforms.

We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty! -Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition and to Friends of the Earth for their support. Many thanks to the kind researchers at the Algorithmic Transparency Institute who allowed me to use their tool Junkipedia. Special thanks to Dr. Rhianna Rogers for her mentorship. To EcoTok, thank you for teaching me about the power of community.

Abstract

:{ :{Conspiracy theories are sense-making tools that frequently arise during periods of high anxiety and uncertainty. It is a reasonable assumption that they may proliferate in response to the increasing devastation caused by anthropogenic climate change. While previous research into climate change conspiracy theories has explored the relationship between conspiracy theories and climate change denialism, little is known about their broader relationship with climate change as an experience of the material and social worlds.}:

To examine this interaction, this thesis provides a qualitative analysis of 96 socio-ecological conspiracy theories on the social media platform TikTok. Collected via a user-centric, exploratory research methodology, these videos were found to contain :{:{six dominant themes: anti-oil, weather manipulation, fear of a “green agenda,” supply control, science rejection, and apocalypse.}:

Further analysis found that conspiracy narratives related to climate change in either cause, significance, effect, or response. These conspiracy theories were found to provide a means of interpreting climate change outside of a climate science framework. }:

This conspiratorial framework of interpretation seemingly allowed users to experience climate change without attributing it to anthropogenic causes such as the dependence on fossil fuels. Using theoretical elements from political ecology as well as system justification theory from social psychology, these major themes were largely found to dismiss the need for urgent systemic climate action. While the consequences of climate change were recognized, users frequently attributed them to scapegoated groups or higher powers rather than to systems in which they are complicit.}:

... By applying system justification theory to the conspiracy themes

identified, I examined the conspiracy narratives’ relationship to support for climate action. I

:{:{found that these narratives provided users with a framework for experiencing and processing climate change outside of a climate science framework.}:

Furthermore, most of these conspiracy}:

narratives implicitly rejected the need for climate action and frequently offered alternative

solutions to climate change such as scapegoating or spiritual solutionism.

Using a political ecology framework to interpret this phenomenon within a socio-ecological

context, I identified the implementation of conspiracy frameworks as means of interpreting

:{:{climate change outside of the scope of climate science.}:

These frameworks allow for the lived}:

experience of anthropogenic climate change to coexist while still justifying a societal

dependence on fossil fuels. In this sense, these frameworks serve as extensions of traditional

climate denialism.

As climate change continues to impact society to increasingly devastating degrees, causing

feelings of existential threat, conspiracy frameworks of interpretation may become a means of

sense-making. These frameworks may provide mEANING AND CERTAINTY IN THE FACE OF

74

existential threat while simultaneously relieving believers’ feelings of complicity and

responsibility. Furthermore, the tendency of the conspiracy narratives in the data set to blame

environmental problems on an out-group is extremely concerning, both for the implications for

support of climate action as well as for potential harm to vulnerable groups. Conspiratorial

scapegoating during moments of societal crisis has historically been a motivating factor for

violence committed by individuals as well as by state governments...

...

6.3.3 Spiritual Solutionism

One interesting theme which tied together seemingly unrelated conspiracy theories was

spiritual solutionism. Regardless of whether the narratives feature the Earth shifting into a new

universe, an Anunnaki alien princess warning of climate catastrophes (Figure 24), or language

about “awakenings” and “spiritual warfare,” their relationships to climate action are similar.

While these narratives may present climate change as real (though often not anthropogenic),

the solution they offer is one of internal contemplation and the spiritual unification of humanity.

While this sounds lovely, it alone does not address any causes of climate change. Presenting

spirituality as the solution to the climate crisis may address some of the anxiety of the climate

crisis, but it may also discourage participation in solutions.

Spiritual solutionism seemingly allows for believers to experience anthropogenic climate

change but attribute it to the actions of some higher power. This framework of interpretation

functions as a reinforcement to the fossil fuel status quo. If the effects of climate change are

attributed to an act of God, intergalactic energetic forces, or a shift into a higher dimension,

then they must also be interpreted as beyond humanity’s control. Not only do these conspiracy

57

theories appear to negate the role of fossil fuels in climate change, but they comprehensively

reject the possibility for mitigative action through legislation. No international environmental

policy, no matter how vast, could change the planet’s fate as determined by God (or aliens or

galactic rotations or lapses into parallel universes PIX OF UFO PRINCESS BABE

...

Weather manipulation

With 25 instances in the data set, weather manipulation conspiracy theories were one of the

most numerous I identified. These are conspiracy theories that ascribe weather and, more

broadly, climate to groups allegedly capable of altering or controlling atmospheric systems.

Like many other popular conspiracy theories, these contain elements of historical fact. Weather

modification is the act of intentionally manipulating weather and it is most commonly used in

the form of cloud seeding in certain drought-prone regions to stimulate precipitation. Similarly,

geoengineering (sometimes called climate engineering) refers to carbon dioxide removal and

solar radiation management when applied at a planetary scale. Weather modification is a

regional and local practice, whereas geoengineering is a global one. I found that both terms

were incorporated into conspiracy discourse on TikTok, frequently used interchangeably and

vaguely.

These videos also frequently incorporated chemtrail conspiracy narratives (the belief that the

condensation trails formed from the jet engines of aircraft consist of biological or chemical

agents). This theory has persisted despite extensive debunking for decades, and it can fit into

climate discourse positioned as either a cause of weather events or as an oppressive and violent

measure used against the public under the guise of geoengineering. Within the data set,

chemtrails functioned both as an explanation for weather, usually as a component of weather

engineering, as well as a supposed response to climate change by malevolent elites. As most

of the discourse was concerned with regional and local weather, I grouped chemtrails and

geoengineering under the umbrella of weather manipulation.

Many videos positioned chemtrails as a component of a larger weather manipulation

conspiracy theory, explaining weather events as man-made or controlled. For instance, in one

video (Figure 11), a woman holds a lighter up to a snowball—an act that leaves a black residue

on the snowball from the gas emitted by the lighter. The user considers this to be evidence of

unnatural weather and speculates about the involvement of chemtrails.

26

The user details their process of testing the snow:

Alright, so I saw a video on TikTok the other day, and it said go outside and get some

snow … it just snowed. It’s still snowing. I’m in southwest Missouri. It feels super fluffy.

But anyways, I saw this video the other day that said go outside and get some snow.

Someone said the snow is fake. Ball it up. It's cold ... it's definitely cold. And then they

said to burn it, and they said it's not real so let’s ... here we go. And it'll turn black and

it'll smell like plastic (holds lighter up to a ball of snow). Look at that! And it smells like

plastic. Really bad. That's not snow, and don't let your kids eat that, that's for sure. A

lot of people been talking about chemtrails. Whether you believe in those or not,

something's going on, but I'm from Minnesota and that is not what snow does.

Something's going on, guys.

The video, which used the hashtags “government,” “man-made,” “chemtrails,” “conspiracy

theory,” “fake,” and “snow,” demonstrates the connection between chemtrail and weather

manipulation conspiracies. It is unclear precisely what fake snow means and what mechanisms

could create it.

Another frequent component of weather manipulation conspiracy theories was solar radiation

management, often described as “blocking out the sun.” Figure 12 illustrates a TikTok

claiming that Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum are using chemtrails to “block the

sun” and manufacture food shortagES..

---

mma 10 24

North Carolina Trump event organizer Clay Clark pushed Hurricane Helene “weather manipulation” conspiracy theory

Clark is organizing two pro-Trump events in North Carolina this month

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published 10/07/24

Pro-Trump ally Clay Clark, who said that he was recently “tasked by Eric Trump” to organize an upcoming meeting hosted by former President Donald Trump in North Carolina, also pushed the conspiracy theory that the government was behind Hurricane Helene through “weather manipulation” so that it could apparently seize control of a North Carolina town’s lithium deposits.

Clark appeared on the October 3 edition of The Pete Santilli Show, where he said: “Weather manipulation is real, and the town or the area that was most devastated by the flood happens to be in a town that sits on America's largest lithium deposits.”

Video

CitationFrom the October 3, 2024, edition of The Pete Santilli Show

CLAY CLARK: HAARP, look it up, folks. HAARP, H.A.A.R.P. You might not know about it. It stands for High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program. Weather manipulation is real, and the town or the area that was most devastated by the flood happens to be in a town that sits on America's largest lithium deposits.

And lithium is what makes electric cars slash the Green New Deal possible. Right? So the local people don't want to move out of their homes because they don't want to have their backyard turned into a mining site.

And so the locals who live in a small town, they don't want to leave their town and turn their community and town into a mining site, basically a big hole in the ground. And so that just happens to be the town that was impacted by the floods.

He added: “Weather can now be weaponized. So we're in a unique time.”

He also wrote on social media: "#NorthCarolinaFloods | The U.S. Has Over 6 Million Tons of Identified Lithium Resources. The Majority of This Lithium Has Been Identified In Kings Mountain, North Carolina.' - U.S. Geological Survey + Weather Modification 101? What Is Weather Modification?"

Clark’s conspiracy theory is false. The government has not controlledHurricane Helene through weather manipulation and has not attempted to steal lithium from North Carolina through this tragedy.

Clark recently wrote that “I have been both honored and tasked by Eric Trump and Doctor Ben Carson with organizing this 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting hosted by the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump and Doctor Ben Carson.” The event is on October 21 in North Carolina. He has numerous other ties to Team Trump:

Clark's next stop on his ReAwaken America tour is also in North Carolina and, according to Clark, will feature “basically President Trump’s inner circle, so Peter Navarro, Eric Trump, Gen. Flynn, Kash Patel, Alina Habba.”

Another key Trump ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), also recently used Hurricane Helene to claim that “they can control the weather.”