It is not an arson emergency; it is a climate emergency. Australia is on fire in one of the worst fire seasons in its history. And the networks also burn. Australia is not only being ravaged by fire, but now also by fake news.
Under the hashtag #arsonemergency (something like “arson emergency”), climate change deniers try to devalue climate change, which has created the ideal conditions for aggressive fires to break out, with dire consequences: that the number of hectares burned in 2019, ten million, has doubled in ten years; that one billion animals killed directly or indirectly by the flames are counted; and that the koala population is being dramatically decimated, so much so that official figures already speak of 30% of koalas having died .
These deniers are spearheading a very dangerous message these days. The data that is being disseminated around the world has no scientific or official backing , and experts have already been quick to deny it. Also the media. According to the conspiracy theorists, more than 180 people have caused the aggressive fires that devastate much of the Australian territory; Furthermore, according to these wicked minds, many of them would be climate activists, acting as an evil lobby, burning forest area to create alarm about climate change.
The truth about this is that the number of people charged with directly setting fires is 24 ; the rest were reprimanded for carrying out risky behaviors related to fires, such as throwing lit cigarettes or making barbecues in the wild. But this information, published by the Australian police, has been conveniently exaggerated and used by certain people for their purposes.
However, the sad reality is that it is not necessary to start fires for climate change to be a global concern. Especially because, despite the efforts of deniers to downplay it, the weight of climate change is essential to understand why some parts of the world, in recent years, have been the protagonists of climate events much more serious than usual.
Scientific studies show that the global increase in temperature since the industrialization of the planet has aggravated forest fires, floods, and other types of catastrophes aggravated by the weather. Heat waves, droughts, winters that are too springy, fire seasons that last too long, fires that are too aggressive …
Who is behind the #arsonemergency hashtag?
Technology is capable of amazing wonders. But, also, to deceive a citizen who thinks he is well informed. An analysis by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), led by Dr. Timothy Graham, has been able to verify how most of the tweets that warn of the alleged #arsonemergency are the work of ‘bots’ , machines that have learned, thanks to the Machine Learning technique, to genuinely infiltrate a political discussion, and even to show opinions similar to those of a concerned citizen, with the aim of persuading.
These ‘bots’ are dedicated to repeatedly retweeting or replicating certain types of content quickly, achieving that in just one week, the hashtag #arsonemergency is being widely commented on.
On the vertical axis is the number of tweets over time with the hashtag # ArsonEmergency. / Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
The most worrying thing is that those who retweet are not just a few fans. It is striking and particularly worrying that some political and institutional representatives, people of public importance, are giving credence to this type of information.
Fortunately, they have managed to get enough attention that the experts speak, and the truth prevails.
Unfortunately, climate change is responsible for exacerbating Australia’s bushfires. A country responsible for 1.1% of all CO2 emissions worldwide, and in which its population, which represents only 0.3% worldwide, is responsible for 1.07% of all effect emissions greenhouse.
Unfortunately, it is very likely that we will not only have to face the challenge of the climate crises that lie ahead; but we must also remain vigilant to the false information that certain unscientific sectors of the population want to impose.
