Hoaxes Run Amok On Social Media As Hurricane Florence Moves Inland

Hurricane Florence has begun her slow, water-logged move inland. As communities in her path face an onslaught of rain and rising floodwaters, they’re also contending with a distinctly different problem: disinformation and outright hoaxes, often spread via social media.

Numerous hoaxes, shark and race-based ones in particular, seem to be repeated with every hurricane.

Also, check the information against fake stories that went viral during previous storms. Storyful has a list of them from Hurricane Irma, and the Houston Chronicle has a roundup about hoaxes that went viral during Hurricane Harvey. FEMA also has a rumor control website from Hurricane Harvey. 

If it involves a shark in any capacity, you can almost assuredly ignore it. Like this, for instance:

(A similar tweet, sent by the exact same account, also went viral during Hurricane Harvey last year.)  

Or this:

If you’re wondering what sort of gullible idiot believes these types of stories and passes them along as fact, the answer is Rush Limbaugh, who did just that on his show earlier this week.

“So, those of you in the target path in North Carolina, South Carolina: In addition to the pig manure, in addition to the slop, in addition to the floods, in addition to the cars rolling around on the waters in front of your house, in addition to the mudslides and the landslides, now you might end up with a shark in your front yard,” he warned listeners on Monday. “I’m telling you right ― you think I’m making this up? This appeared somewhere.”

Other common hoaxes that spread during hurricanes involve outright lies about service animals not being allowed in shelters (they are), falsities about insurance claims and reports of funnel clouds.

In SC and the wipeople behind me in line mad af I’m taking they gas #Florence#FlorenceLootCrew#HurricaneFlorencepic.twitter.com/JOySBcTOwf

— Mr CEO 007 (@RUthlessJW187) September 12, 2018