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Canadian Conspiracy Theories Spread Like Wildfire Thanks To Social Media [1]
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Date: 2023-06-01
Canada is on fire, and deniers are using every possible conspiracy theory to avoid having to admit that climate change is real .
Fires have been raging in Alberta , British Columbia , and Nova Scotia , and authorities suspect that many of these fires may indeed be human-caused. However, “human-caused” does not necessarily mean arson, and it certainly doesn’t mean that it's " not unreasonable to assume " the fires were started by malevolent election-swaying communists, per one blue-checked tweeter, or even by Justin Trudeau himself!
On May 18, AFP had to fact-check the false claim that the Alberta wildfires were started by arsonists who wanted to disrupt the recent Canadian elections. “This is unproven,” AFP Canada’s Gwen Roley wrote. “Officials say ongoing investigations have not found evidence suggesting widespread arson, that weather conditions are a major factor and that accommodations are being made for voters displaced by the fires.”
Roley also noted that some of the false posts invoked the infamous 15-minute city conspiracy theory . Other social media users claimed that the fires were due to arson, not climate change, and that the “ Climate Change Activist Arson squad ” is to blame for the fires. Unfortunately for these climate deniers, as well as the rest of us, it is a well-known fact that climate change heightens wildfire risk .
On May 23, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson at Canada’s National Observer reported that conspiracy theories about the Alberta wildfires were spreading quickly on social media. Fawcett-Atkinson flagged harmful claims ranging from the wild assertion that the UN was attempting to round up Albertans to Canadian member of Parliament Pierre Poilievre apparently shouting over fellow member Karina Gould to argue that the fires were started by Trudeau's government.
The most common type of wildfire disinfo was what Carleton University professor Dr. Chris Russill calls “climate authoritarianism.” Fawcett-Atkinson explains, “This is the idea that efforts to combat climate change are a cover for a shadowy group of elites — often including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government — to restrict people's freedom.” This dangerous disinformation impedes emergency response efforts and fuels right-wing attacks on climate policies.
Additionally, the article noted that conspiracy theories can spring out of truth. Dr. Russill told the Observer, “There's enough content available that it's very rarely … a completely overt fabrication. There's something true that gets exaggerated in its importance or significance. That then becomes the context for which you can draw in wider things. And then there's often a much broader story that can take a conspiratorial or populist turn.”
We saw this same phenomenon occur in relation to the disinformation that erupted in April about the wildfires in Asturias, Spain. Those fires were actually started by arsonists , but misinformers used this fact to start falsely asserting that the fires were deliberately set to clear out space for renewable energy projects .
On May 26, CBC News reported that conspiracy theories related to the British Columbia wildfires were also circulating online. Northern Lights College researcher Dr. Darryn Wellstead told CBC News that in addition to the lies that climate change is a hoax and that the government is trying to drive people into 15-minute cities, “There were [also] rumours that the fires were started by Antifa. People were suggesting fires were being set by anti-oil activists.”
Now, Twitter users are beginning to spread lies about the newer Nova Scotia fires . One poster implied that Trudeau’s “corrupted” government may be involved in the recent fires across Canada. Another user told people to be “suspicious” of the Nova Scotia fires and took the opportunity to cast doubt on the unrelated fact that a 19-year-old with a Nazi flag rammed a truck into barriers near the White House last week. Yet another tweeter argued , “Looks like another conspiracy theory has become conspiracy fact in Nova Scotia. Politicians are using the forest fires as an opportunity to push their climate change ideology.”
These are classic cases of conspiratorial thinking and confirmation bias , in which people interpret every random new event as confirmation of their preexisting beliefs. To be fair, we all have some confirmation bias, which is why it's so important to have multiple interlocking lines of evidence, or a " consilience of inductions ," as is the case with climate science .
Just as the Nova Scotia wildfires are unfortunately expected to worsen , we anticipate that the harmful conspiracy theories about the fires will also continue to spread on social media. One can only hope that the amplified animosity on Twitter and other social media platforms does not drown out the critical , life - saving emergency alerts .
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