Disinformation stirred by Musk and Trump adds strain to hurricane recovery

State and federal officials, already grappling with back-to-back hurricanes that have killed hundreds across the U.S. Southeast, are now contending with another disaster-related threat: disinformation over their relief efforts and the cause of the storm.

Conspiracy theories and hate speech targeting the government’s storm response erupted across social media — especially on X — after Hurricane Helene devastated the region, with former U.S. President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk amplifying unverified allegations. Now, after Hurricane Milton struck Florida late Wednesday, U.S. officials have made it part of their strategy to rebut those falsehoods while also probing whether foreign actors share some of the blame.

Bogus claims included assertions that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has diverted relief funding to undocumented migrants and is only providing $750 to disaster survivors. Other conspiracy theories alleged without evidence that the government would use the moment to seize private land, or that federal officials had somehow engineered the hurricanes.