Extreme weather: How a storm of false and misleading claims about extreme weather events spread unchecked on social media putting lives at risk

This report finds that X, YouTube, and Meta (Instagram and Facebook), allow a storm of false and misleading claims about extreme weather events like the Texas floods, Hurricane Helene and the LA wildfires flood their platforms – disrupting disaster response, and putting lives at risk. CCDH looked at the 300 most-liked posts on X, YouTube, and Meta about extreme weather events.

The report found:

• False or misleading claims about extreme weather were viewed 221 million times across all platforms.
• Community Notes or fact checks are almost entirely absent on viral posts spreading false claims during major disasters.
  • 98% of the 100 posts analyzed on Facebook and Instagram
  • 99% of the 100 posts analyzed on X
  • All the 100 posts analyzed on YouTube
• Social media companies are profiting from lies about extreme weather events.
  • On X, 88% of misleading extreme weather posts were from verified accounts. The platform enables paid subscriptions for five of these accounts – which combined have 14 million followers.
  • On YouTube, 73% of posts were from verified accounts. YouTube displayed ads next to 29% of misleading extreme weather videos.
  • On Facebook and Instagram, 64% of posts were from verified accounts. Meta is sharing ad revenue with three content creators pushing misleading claims, enabling them to share in Meta’s revenue from ads near their posts.