Juliette Kayyem
In The Atlantic, I explain how misinformation has a direct impact on response capabilities, many that are already overwhelmed by the disaster's destruction of communication infrastructure.

The lies flood in.

Last edited 6:20 PM · Oct 5, 2024

The Atlantic (archived) - The Fog of Disaster Is Getting Worse

How a changing media environment, worsened by intentional attempts to deceive people, hampers the response to natural catastrophes

By Juliette Kayyem

October 5, 2024, 6 AM ET

Keeping track of events during a natural disaster was hard enough in the past, before people with dubious motives started flooding social media with sensational images generated by artificial intelligence. In a crisis, public officials, first responders, and people living in harm’s way all need reliable information. The aftermath of Hurricane Helene has shown that, even as technology has theoretically improved our capacity to connect with other people, our visibility into what’s happening on the ground may be deteriorating.

Beginning late last week, Helene’s storm surge, winds, and rains created a 500-mile path of destruction across the Southeast. To many people’s surprise, the storm caused catastrophic flooding well inland—including in and around Asheville, North Carolina, a place that had frequently been labeled a “climate haven.” Pictures that many users assumed had been taken somewhere around Asheville began spreading rapidly on social media. Among them were photographs of pets standing on the rooftops of buildings surrounded by water; another image showed a man wading through a flood to rescue a dog. But news outlets that took a closer look noted that the man had six fingers and three nostrils—a sign that the image was a product of AI, which frequently gets certain details wrong.

The spread of wild rumors has always been a problem during major disasters, which typically produce power outages and transportation obstacles that interfere with the communication channels that most people rely on from day to day. Most emergency-management agencies gather information from local media and public sources, including posts from local citizens, to determine where help is needed most. Noise in the system hinders their response.

In past crises, emergency managers at all levels of government have relied on local media for factual information about events on the ground. But the erosion of the local-news industry—the number of newspaper journalists has shrunk by two-thirds since 2005, and local television stations face serious financial pressure—has reduced the supply of reliable reporting.

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