Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Disinformation and lies are spreading faster than Australia's bushfires

Disinformation and lies are spreading faster than Australia's bushfires

Social media claims of an arson epidemic and obstructive environmentalists have infected mainstream reporting of the bushfire crisis
Lies have spread faster than grassfire during Australia’s unprecedented national emergency.

They’ve ranged from the exaggerated to the outrageous.

One conspiracy bizarrely claims bushfires have been lit to clear a path for high-speed rail down Australia’s east coast. Others baselessly claim Islamic State is instructing its followers to wage war on the country with fire, that Chinese billionaires are using lasers to clear the path for new cities, or that eco-terrorists are trying to spur action on climate change by manufacturing a catastrophe.

Accompanying these laughable mistruths, though, are more dangerous distortions.

They are the ones being used to deflect from climate change’s role in creating longer, more severe fire seasons.

Two pieces of disinformation stand out from the rest: that an “arson emergency”, rather than climate change, is behind the bushfires, and that “greenies” are preventing firefighters from reducing fuel loads in the Australian bush.

Disinformation has spread across social media, finding its way into major news outlets, the mouths of government MPs, and across the globe to Donald Trump Jr and prominent right-wing conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones.

Esteemed climate change expert professor Will Steffen, a member of Australia’s Climate Council and the inaugural director of Australian National University’s Climate Change Institute, is concerned at how disinformation has spread with such ease.

“In my mind, I think it’s a serious issue and it is potentially very dangerous,” Steffen told the Guardian. “That’s because the bushfire situation is very dangerous … the evidence is overwhelming that climate change is playing a prominent role in worsening bushfire conditions across Australia.

“People who are for whatever reason trying to put out false or extremely misleading information are actually doing a huge disservice to the risk to human life in the future, the risk to property, the risk to the natural world, and indeed the risk to economy.”

Digital rights experts say the disinformation is yet more evidence that social media platforms are failing in their duty to act responsibly.

“We need to see social media platforms playing a greater role in responding to the disinformation being shared on their platforms about the bushfires,” Digital Rights Watch chair Tim Singleton Norton said.

“This needs to happen in tandem with effective government oversight, transparency, and accountability measures, as well as public education campaigns that give people the tools to identify misinformation.”

There are nuggets of truth in some of the disinformation.

Arson has always been a serious problem in Australia, particularly at times of heightened fire danger. Arsonists have been responsible for some of Australia’s worst bushfires, including a blaze during the horrific 2009 Black Saturday fires that killed 10 people, and arson is a common cause of ignition. New South Wales police say they have charged 24 people for lighting bushfires since November.

This time around, though, the role of arson has been grossly exaggerated. Suggestions of an arson epidemic began to ferment on social media at the height of the crisis around New Year’s Day. On Twitter, much of the disinformation centred around the #arsonemergency hashtag.

Queensland University of Technology senior lecturer Timothy Graham, an expert in social media analysis, took a sample of tweets from the hashtag and analysed them for characteristics typically associated with bots and trolls. His findings suggested a clear “disinformation campaign”.

“Australia suddenly appears to be getting swamped by mis/disinformation as a result of this environmental catastrophe, and we are suffering the consequences in terms of hyped up polarisation and an increased difficulty and inability for citizens to discern truth,” Graham told the Guardian.

Claims of an arson emergency were spurred along by some mainstream outlets. Channel 7, a major commercial television network, tweeted that police were “now working on the premise arson is to blame for much of the devastation caused this bushfire season”.

The tweet neither reflected what police had said or what Channel 7 had itself reported in its news story.

A story in the Murdoch-owned national broadsheet, The Australian, also falsely claimed that 183 arsonists had been arrested in the “current bushfire season”. That piece also went global. It was tweeted by Donald Trump Jr and followed up by InfoWars, a right-wing US website, which stated: “Authorities in Australia have arrested close to 200 people for deliberately starting the bushfires that have devastated the country, yet the media and celebrities continue to blame ‘climate change’ for the disaster.”

The number was a gross exaggeration. It was arrived at by counting a range of bushfire-related offences other than arson – including contraventions of fire bans, for example – and used annual figures, not those for the current fire season, which began in September. The Australian subsequently updated its story.

NSW’s Rural Fire Service has said the major cause of ignition during the crisis has been dry lightning. Victoria police say they do not believe arson had a role in any of the destructive fires this summer.

The RFS has also contradicted claims that environmentalists have been holding up hazard reduction work. That claim was running hot on social media, and was given credibility by figures like federal Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, a prominent Australian politician, who said “green caveats” were stopping firefighters from reducing fuel loads.

This is at complete odds with statements by the RFS commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, who said the single biggest barrier to hazard reduction is the increasingly hot and dry weather and the “shrinking window of opportunity” within which managed burns could safely take place.

Fitzsimmons said hazard reduction is also of little utility in fires as intense as those experienced in NSW this season.

“Hazard reduction is absolutely an important factor when it comes to fire management and managing fire in the landscape but it is not the panacea,” Fitzsimmons said on Wednesday.

Comments like Fitzsimmons’ have done little to stop the idea taking hold. Prime minister Scott Morrison has nominated the lack of hazard reduction work as a key issue he wants to investigate after the current crisis.

At the same time, Morrison has demonstrated little appetite for strengthening climate action.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×