Four Democrats in the U.S. House sent a letter to Big Tech executives on Friday demanding increased censorship and scrutiny on their platforms after Hurricanes Helene and Milton. They argued that they must censor posts to protect users from potential scams and “misinformation” about federal agencies.
Representatives Deborah Ross (D-NC-02), Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), Nikema Williams (D-GA-05), and Wiley Nickel (D-NC-13) urged tech executives to “do substantially more” to combat social media “misinformation” that purportedly began in the wake of Hurricane Helene, in a letter first reported by Axios.
According to the Democrats, “misinformation” on social media has included false claims about FEMA funds for residents affected by the disasters and “misleading” information about shelter and resources.”
The agency also complained, “conspiracy theories have spread claiming that both storms are the result of government actions,” which it claimed resulted in death threats and harassment against meteorologists on X, the platform known as Twitter until it was purchased and renamed by Elon Musk.
The letter addresses executives including Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and top executives at Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Discord, and Snapchat.
The executives are urged to “[i]ncrease the monitoring and rapid removal of misinformation and disinformation related to disaster recovery efforts,” deepen its “fact-checking partnerships” with local relief organizations, “Strengthen algorithms to flag” and censor posts deemed problematic, and “Implement stronger safeguards against scams” in the affected areas.
At least one social media platform has already stated what it is doing to combat misinformation. The Community Notes program on X confirmed Wednesday that additional user-generated context or fact checks were “showing on hundreds of posts and have already been seen well over 44 million times.”
Yaccarino shared the post and advised users to be careful and safe and check the platform for information.
The request for more censorship from big tech companies comes amid scrutiny of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over its response to Hurricane Helene in East Tennessee and North Carolina, where Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said on Friday the agency has been “far too slow” in helping those in the hurricane’s path.
Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) similarly told The Tennessee Star earlier this month he is “not confident in them at all.” Burchett has since demanded receipts for its relief spending after Hurricane Helene.
FEMA also came under fire in the immediate aftermath of the hurricanes, when multiple reports claimed the agency was confiscating supplies or blocking relief efforts.
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