WASHINGTON (AFP) – Climate change-denying social media accounts are exploiting the deadly wildfires in Hawaii to push conspiracy theories that high-energy lasers were used to spark the flames.
Posts invoking such technologies or claiming the blazes were set intentionally to create climate-friendly cities have generated millions of engagements on socials.
“Only a Directed Energy Weapon can cause this kind of destruction,” radio host Stew Peters said in one post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The narrative’s surge highlights what disinformation experts said is a trend in which conspiracy theorists deny the science of climate change in response to extreme weather events.
“Any time there is a climate-related event and advocates call for accelerated climate action, there usually is a corresponding attempt to discredit climate science, disconnect the event from climate change and blame it on something else,” said Boston University Professor Arunima Krishna who studies climate disinformation.
Other sites are littered with posts falsely claiming to show photos and videos of Hawaii being targeted by such systems, which use concentrated electromagnetic energy and are being developed in the United States for drone and missile defences.
