I have very vivid memories of Superstorm Sandy in NY. It was the 18th named storm of 2012, the 10th hurricane, and the 2nd major one. It caused ~$100 billion in property damage and killed 254 people.
Throughout the entire disaster, a few things stand out:
–Visiting the marina where we keep our boat and seeing water levels up to the top of the bulkheads, which were ~about 13 feet over high tide. It was confusing looking UP at the underside of boats in the marina because, normally, you look down at their decks. It took my brain a few minutes to grasp what my eyes were seeing.
–No electricity for 13 days! The first day or two was an adventure, then it quickly became tiresome and, soon after, dangerous. Fortunately, my sister lived in a town with buried underground power lines, and we hunkered down there the last few days, dogs and all (where I had the single greatest shower of my life).
–A freak October snowstorm that briefly blanketed Long Island just as power was being restored (just to be annoying).
–Misinformation on Social Media. Shashank Tripathi, a 29-year-old hedge fund analyst and campaign manager for a Congressional candidate – and just an all-around asshole – was purposefully creating chaos by tweeting out things that were false:
“Throughout the night, Tripathi tweeted several false rumors, including that Con Edison was shutting down all power in lower Manhattan, that Gov. Andrew Cuomo was trapped on the island and being taken to a secure shelter, and, most notably, that the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was under water.” –Daily Dot
Once outed, Tripathi resigned as campaign manager, left Twitter for a few years, and laid low. He has since returned as a right-wing shitposter, but that story is for someone else to tell.
To me, the most interesting thing that occurred was the New York City Council asked the Manhattan district attorney’s office to press criminal charges. None were forthcoming.
The prohibition against shouting fire in a crowded theater comes from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the United States Supreme Court case, Schenck v. United States. Specific legislation against “falsely shouting fire to incite or produce imminent lawless action” is not a very common piece of lawmaking.
Why?
Up until the rise of social media, it was hard to imagine anyone would purposefully use a hurricane or other disaster as an opportunity to put people at risk of imminent harm, or just create panic for “shits & giggles.” There isn’t a whole lot of legislation aimed at preventing anyone from being a dangerous asshole in these situations, just because they can.
Fast forward to 2024.
Hurricane Debby, an erratic Category 1 storm, caused widespread flooding and billions in damage across the Southeastern United States in August. Then in September, Hurricane Helene hit, a devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread destruction and fatalities. October brought Hurricane Milton, which made Florida landfall before even the cleanup of Helene began in earnest.
And all the while, a torrent of purposefully false information spewed from various players: Candidates, shit-posters, Russian disinformation Ops, Chinese agents, wingnuts, innocent dupes, and other useful idiots. Many others shared the bad information. It led to people in desperate need of assistance not getting it. People were hurt. Property was damaged or destroyed. People died. The public sources listed below share some of the damage this misinformation campaign caused.
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I spoke to a few well connected Floridians and Carolinians, all of whom were incensed about what had occurred.
Their expectation is in the coming months, numerous cities and states (including FL and NC) will be introducing new legislation to create civil and criminal penalties for “Willfully creating and distributing false information, or otherwise purposefully misinforming the public about health, safety, and emergency services during a weather or civil crisis that leads to damages, injuries or deaths.”
You are free to tweet whatever you like, make speeches, give TV interviews, and yell whatever falsehoods you want from the rooftops. But once this storm damage gets cleaned up, do not be surprised to see a run of new legislation creating a civil liability and/or criminal culpability for the sorts of reprehensible behaviors we have witnessed this storm season.
Before you scream First Amendment, recall the Slander and Libel laws that allow a speaker of falsehoods to be held accountable for the damages they create.
You read it here first…
See also:
Fact-checking falsehoods about FEMA funding and Hurricane Helene
by Stephen Fowler
NPR, October 7, 2024
North Carolina Republican pushes back on hurricane misinformation: “Nobody can control the weather”
By Caitlin Yilek
CBS, October 8, 2024
America’s Disinformation Terrorists
Oliver Willis
Oct 09, 2024
The many, many lies about Hurricane Helene, debunked
by Li Zhou
Vox, Oct 8, 2024
Meteorologists Get Death Threats as Hurricane Milton Conspiracy Theories Thrive
By Lorena O’Neil
Rolling Stone, October 9, 2024
