Debunked Australian Bushfire Conspiracy Theories Were Pushed by Alex Jones, Murdoch Media

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As unusually intense and widespread bushfires have ravaged a drought-ridden Australia, bots and trolls have begunย pushing climate science denial across the internet in the form of conspiracy theories about the fires. Thanks toย climate change,ย exceptionally hot, dry drought conditions haveย worsened and lengthened Australia’s typical fireย season.

Two of the main conspiracies about the fires are based on the false ideasย that they are caused by a spate ofย arson and they have been worsened by the Green Party’s supposed efforts to stopย controlled burns as a fire management and reductionย measure.

Dr. Timothy Graham from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) did an analysis of the online activity and concluded there was a high level of bots involved in spreading these conspiracies. As ZDnet reported, Graham is โ€œat least confidentโ€ that that this was some type of disinformationย campaign.

Sites like NewsWars โ€” which was founded by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones who falsely claimed the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax โ€” are alreadyย pushing these conspiracies.

Notorious climate deniers Patrick Michaels and Myron Ebellย of the Competitive Enterprise Institute promoted the same conspiracies in the Washington Examiner. And the discredited extremist science denier Lord Monckton also weighed in.

However, it isnโ€™t just fringe sites pushing these ideas. The New York Times reports that Rupert Murdochโ€™s media empire has also been instrumental in publishing these debunked claims (and others claiming that these fires are no worse thanย normal).

Despite multiple sources clearly discreditingย these myths,ย CNNโ€™s top story in its World News section today, which is also featured inย its website’sย top stories bannerย this morning, included the misleading headline, โ€œPolice in Australia are accusing 24 people of deliberately setting bushfiresโ€ โ€”ย reinforcing the work of conspiracy theorists’ย messaging.

Police and Firefighters Debunk theย Myths

A common theme in these myths is that the Australian police and firefighters are the source of these purported claims about the wildfires,ย which has been strongly refuted by none other than the police andย firefighters.

The Guardian reported that a spokeswoman for the Victoria police said, โ€œThere is currently no intelligence to indicate that the fires in East Gippsland and the North East have been caused by arson or any other suspiciousย behaviour.โ€

That same article notes that according to a Rural Fire Service spokesman, โ€œThe majority of the larger fires in the state [of New South Wales] were caused by lightning, and that arson was a relatively small source ofย ignition.โ€

Members of the New South Walesย fire brigade have also dismissed the idea that the fires are due to efforts by the Green Party to stop fire managementย practices.

Main image:ย Kangaroo Island fire, January 2, 2020. Credit: robdownunder,ย CC BYNCNDย 2.0

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Justin Mikulka is a research fellow at New Consensus. Prior to joining New Consensus in October 2021, Justin reported for DeSmog, where he began in 2014. Justin has a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.

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