The letter was sent by Democrats Deborah K. Ross of North Carolina, Kathy Castor of Florida, Nikema Williams of Georgia and Wiley Nickel of North Carolina, all of whom represent states affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene.
They note: “In the aftermath of Helene, we have witnessed a troubling surge in misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and scams that are hindering recovery efforts and exploiting vulnerable individuals and families.”
They maintain that these allegedly false claims are hampering recovery efforts and compromising the public’s confidence in authorities.
The letter was sent to the CEOs of Facebook, X, TikTok, Discord, Snap, YouTube and Instagram. Although they stopped short of explicitly calling for censorship, they did press the platforms to police people’s speech.
“You have the power and the responsibility to improve the digital spaces where millions of Americans both seek and promote information during crises, including natural disasters. Again, we strongly encourage you to act quickly and decisively to address the clear dangers posed by the spread of misinformation, disinformation, and scams in the wake of these storms,” they wrote.
They also called on them to better monitor “misinformation and disinformation related to disaster recovery efforts” so it can be removed more quickly, drawing particular attention to information coming from “verified or large-reaching accounts.”
In addition, they want these platforms to improve their algorithms in a way that can stop the spread of “harmful conspiracy theories” and to partner with local agencies on fact-checking efforts to ensure the accuracy of the information being published. All of these are different ways of censoring online rhetoric and silencing those who dare to criticize FEMA’s poor response to these disasters.
Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee is among those who have called FEMA out on its shortcomings. In an interview with News Channel 11, he complained: “FEMA has been far too slow to step up to the plate. The management issues at that organization are serious. They’re understaffed. They’re on demand. Their priority is in the wrong place. They’re not even set up at the right location. They should be here at the place where people are going to get emergency supplies, not at some remote location.”
FEMA criticized for misusing funds and providing aid based on equity over need
FEMA has been under fire since announcing that it “does not have the funds” to help Americans get through the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season after it spent more than a billion dollars in the past two years addressing the migrant crisis.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned: “We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what — what is imminent.”
The agency faced further criticism after videos emerged showing their top priority is to “instill equity as a foundation of emergency management,” implying that aid would be distributed according to woke demographic characteristics rather than need.
These stories have caused plenty of concern among Americans, and while there have certainly been instances where people have shared stories online that misrepresent the situation with FEMA, it didn’t take Democrats long to leverage the situation as an excuse to call for more censorship against conservative critics of the Biden-Harris administration.
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