Grave peril of digital conspiracy theories: ‘What happens when no one believes anything anymore?’

Rays of sunlight pierce through the clouds on Aug 10, 2023, above homes burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii. Days after Maui’s wildfires killed scores of people and destroyed 2,000 homes, a shocking claim spread with alarming speed on YouTube and TikTok: The blaze was set deliberately, using futuristic energy weapons developed by the US military. — AP

WASHINGTON: Days after Maui’s wildfires killed scores of people and destroyed thousands of homes last August, a shocking claim spread with alarming speed on YouTube and TikTok: The blaze on the Hawaiian island was set deliberately, using futuristic energy weapons developed by the US military.

Claims of “evidence” soon emerged: video footage on TikTok showing a beam of blinding white light, too straight to be lightning, zapping a residential neighborhood and sending flames and smoke into the sky. The video was shared many millions of times, amplified by neo-Nazis, anti-government radicals and supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, and presented as proof that America’s leaders had turned on the country’s citizens.