Violent threats against FEMA swirl on social media

FEMA employees scrambling to respond to the devastation caused by hurricanes Milton and Helene are facing a new, unexpected challenge: violent threats on social media.

TikTok posts either calling for violence or applauding unverified claims about physical attacks against FEMA personnel have garnered millions of views, according to a report yesterday from nonprofit Media Matters for America. X has also been fertile ground for threats of violence against FEMA, says another analysis published yesterday by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).

"This content is reaching millions of people and, in some instances, poses a credible risk to public safety," ISD says.

Social media misinformation has fed distrust in FEMA, which officials warn could hamper efforts to help people in the wake of Helene and Milton. "If it creates so much fear that my staff doesn't want to go out in the field, then we're not going to be in a position where we can help people," FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a Tuesday call with reporters, as reported by Axios. "I worry that they won't apply for assistance, which means I can't get them the necessary items they need to support them."

FEMA has had to combat false claims that it is confiscating donations to hurricane survivors, turning away volunteers, or diverting funds to support migrants, among other misleading rumors about disaster aid that have blown up online recently. The agency set up a webpage for "hurricane rumor response" last week.

That post and others mentioned in the Media Matters report appeared to have been taken down when The Verge searched for them today. However, users who created those videos have posted other content that's still up with similar, thinly veiled threats or misinformation about FEMA's role in hurricane response.

Another video by the same user says, "Fema, Feds and anyone withholding aid from those in need ... The US military is aware of what you're doing and the crimes you're committing." It's set to a song whose lyrics declare "let the bodies hit the floor." That video was still up this morning and had garnered more than 1,000 views.

Another video from the same account says, "FEMA is not your friend ... If a fed tries to exercise their nonexistent authority, do what you need to do to survive." The audio accompanying the text is ringing bells, which sound like a "death knell." That video, posted two days ago, had garnered more than 1,500 views.

"We immediately removed all content in the report and are proactively working to keep misinformation off TikTok and connect people to reliable information from FEMA," TikTok spokesperson Ariane de Selliers said in an email to The Verge.

The Verge also found links to that user's deleted video on Elon Musk's X. Musk himself has spread disinformation about FEMA, including a post last week that says the agency was "actively blocking citizens who try to help." FEMA's acting director for response and recovery, Keith Turi, refuted the claim on ABC on Monday.

Meanwhile, ISD analyzed 33 posts on X promoting false claims about hurricane response, which garnered 160 million views by October 7th. False information about the hurricane response has "spawned credible threats and incitement to violence directed at the federal government - this includes calls to send militias to face down FEMA for the perceived denial of aid, or to shoot and/or harm FEMA officials and the agency's emergency responders," the report says.

Nearly a third of the posts analyzed also contained antisemitic hate, according to the ISD. Much of the content targets Jaclyn Rothenberg, director for public affairs at FEMA. Posts questioning her "loyalty to the country based on her Jewish heritage" received millions of views. And the same accounts spreading misinformation about Helene were also tied to content disparaging migrants and denying climate change, ISD says.

X didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge. The company filed suit against Media Matters last year for allegedly "threatening X's relationships with massive multinational advertisers and global publishers."

FEMA's been the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories for years, an issue that's cropping up again with elections around the corner. "Just because of the level of outreach and misinformation we're going to have to counter, we have additional staff, and we're plussing up those efforts," FEMA's Criswell said in a press briefing yesterday. "I do believe that the volume of the misinformation is starting to go down, but we need to continue to now, remain focused on what our mission is and that our mission is here to help people."