TALLAHASSEE—Hours before Hurricane Milton is forecast to slam into Florida's storm-battered west coast, Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted online misinformation surrounding the impending storm as a monetization scheme from people who "don't give a damn" about struggling Floridians.
Some of the wilder posts on X include allegations that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is paying contractors to stop Floridians from going home after the storm, marine snipers are shooting FEMA agents in North Carolina, and the government is creating hurricanes to destroy Republican strongholds ahead of the election.
Gov. DeSantis, along with most of the population, believes these to be dangerous.
"If you're hearing things that [are] just outrageous, just know in the state of Florida, none of that stuff would ever fly, so you don't have to worry about that," DeSantis told reporters at a Tallahassee press conference Wednesday morning. "FEMA is not leading this show, we are leading this show here in the state of Florida."
He continued, warning that the "more titillating" the "nonsense", the more likely somebody is profiting off of the post via a process called engagement farming, where a user purposely circulates outrageous news—real or not—to cause more people to click or view their post. Due to X's monetization rules, creators can make money off of these posts.
"They don't really give a damn about the well-being and safety of the people that are actually in the eye of this storm. It's all just trying to monetize what they're doing," DeSantis added.
All of the top misinformation posts were uploaded in the past week, and most have 100k to over a million impressions, with tens of thousands of likes and reposts. The account "HealthRanger", which boasts over 200k followers, claimed in a lengthy post that FEMA is ordering people to evacuate vulnerable areas to "push people out and KEEP THEM OUT."
The user alleged FEMA will enforce these rules "at gunpoint" and believes this to be the next step in a federal government war against Americans. The previous step was FEMA trying to "maximize starvation and death" in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
While the post may sound false to most (because it is), nearly 10k people liked it, nearly 6k reposted it, and 1.1 million saw it. As of Wednesday afternoon, it has yet to be deleted.
Because of posts like this, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) issued a letter debunking a series of popular myths, such as: "Hurricane Helene was NOT geoengineered by the government," in an apparent direct response to another Republican congressional member, Georgia's Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who posted at least five claims in the past week that the government is controlling the weather.
As rumors fly, Hurricane Milton nears, taking direct aim at the Sarasota to Tampa Bay area in what some have surmised would be the worst storm to hit the city in 100 years. Milton has seesawed between a Category 4 and Category 5 storm for the past few days, and as of Wednesday afternoon, is a Category 4 storm with 145 mph maximum sustained winds.
It's predicted to hit Florida sometime late Wednesday to early Thursday morning, which would make it the Sunshine State's second major hurricane in two weeks, after Hurricane Helene slammed into the Big Bend on Sep. 26, inundating parts of Tampa Bay in the process.
Gulf Coast Floridians are struggling to pick up loose debris left over by Helene before Milton rips through—likely as a Category 4 storm. DeSantis has pulled state resources, private contractors, and even out-of-state help to assist in cleanup and shoring up vulnerabilities, and has put in a request with FEMA that they allow Florida to pay out-of-state contractors more money to entice more help ahead of and after Milton.
On Wednesday, DeSantis said FEMA has yet to respond.
