Russia has helped spread false and misleading information on the internet about Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, two climate change-fueled natural disasters that recently struck the American southeast.
According to the recent report, which was published by the London-based think tank the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), social media accounts linked to Russian state-affiliated media spread content focusing on right -wing themes. They incorrectly depicted incompetence in the government's hurricane response to discredit the Biden administration, and often argue this insufficient response is due to U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. On one occasion, a Russian state-owned news agency known as RIA Novosti shared an AI-generated image of Florida's Disney World being supposedly destroyed by Hurricane Milton, which quickly went viral.
While the disinformation exists on a number of social media platforms, the ISD notes that "this type of content is especially prominent on X (formerly Twitter), in line with other recent moderation failures identified by ISD."
On at least one occasion, the Russian trolls seemed to work directly with a U.S. congressman. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) shared misinformation disparaging the government’s response to the hurricanes on the Russian media station Sputnik. Russian troll accounts successfully boosted that clip across social media platforms.
By inaccurately claiming that relief organizations such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were either incompetent or actively trying to harm ordinary Americans, the internet trolls caused real-world harm. Many hurricane victims became convinced FEMA would only pay them up to $750 or that accepting relief money could get their land seized. FEMA staffers report being demoralized, while workers on the ground report it has hindered relief efforts.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has spread some of this misinformation himself in order to harm the candidacy of his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Among other things, Trump has spread the false claim about a $750 limit and that there was widespread bungling of the relief response.
Earlier this month, President Biden responded to Trump's claims by telling reporters at a press conference that Trump needs to "get a life." He also said that “Mr. Trump and all those other people know it’s a lie to suggest that’s all they’re going to get. It’s just bizarre. They got to stop this. They’re being so damn un-American with the way they’re talking about this stuff.”
The ISD argued that the Russian government, in spreading this misinformation, is similarly trying to cause harm to the American people.
“The Kremlin’s overarching goal in these disinformation campaigns is not simply to critique the Biden administration’s handling of hurricanes Milton and Helene, but to sow distrust in U.S. institutions,” the ISD writes. “By painting the U.S. government as either incompetent or actively malicious, Russian media attempts to undermine public confidence in the US disaster relief system, federal agencies including FEMA and broader political leadership.”
