Talent, Oregon resident Kevin Jantzer shows the destruction of his hometown as wildfires ravaged the central Oregon town near Medford on Sept 8, 2020. The Mason County Sheriff’s Office urged Washington residents to stop spreading rumours as isolated incidents of apparent arson led to widespread, unfounded claims that antifa agitators were conspiring to start fires along the West Coast. — KEVIN JANTZER/AP
SEATTLE: Emergency responders in the Pacific Northwest are fighting misinformation along with raging wildfires as people spread unsubstantiated social media posts blaming coordinated groups of arsonists from both the far left and far right for setting the blazes.
The FBI said Friday that it’s investigated several claims and found them to be untrue, while officials in Oregon and Washington state have turned to Facebook to knock down the competing narratives – some posts blamed far-left antifa activists and others claimed the far-right group the Proud Boys was responsible for the fires scorching wide swaths of the region.
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