ADAM ATON and SCOTT WALDMAN, Politico; Elon Musk is piling onto all the hurricane disinformation, hampering relief efforts
"Elon Musk is using his social media network to spread election conspiracy theories about U.S. disasters — just as online falsehoods are complicating the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton...
Falsehoods about natural disasters complicate the logistics of disaster response, which can hinge on survivors cooperating with a patchwork of authorities, the FEMA leaders said this week. They warned that conspiracy theories have already hampered the work of rescue and recovery...
Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan officials have pushed back on the claims from Musk — as well those from Trump, who has gone even further and falsely accused Democrats of blocking aid to Republican-leaning areas. GOP officials in those areas say federal agencies and officials have been in close contact...
Musk’s amplification of conspiracies comes as he prepares to hit the campaign trail for Trump in the next month before November’s election, with a focus on Pennsylvania...
After their conversation Friday, Musk thanked Buttigieg on X: “Just wanted to note that Sec Buttigieg is on the ball.” And in a Monday interview with Tucker Carlson on X, Musk credited Buttigieg with waiving “insane” flight planning requirements.
“I want to give Buttigieg some credit here,” Musk said. “When I complained about it, he reacted in a very levelheaded way. And he reached out to me, and he called me. And we discussed the issue, got to the bottom of it, and he fixed it.”...
Internationally, Musk and his social media company have faced penalties for what other governments have described as disinformation and hate speech."
