How state actors are exploiting climate crises to spread disinformation

Foreign actors are taking advantage of extreme weather events to share destabilising disinformation. This was the case during recent heatwaves in France (archival image, at left) as well as during deadly floods in Spain (at right). © AP (montage by FRANCE 24)

The number of extreme weather events is on the rise, and some states are taking advantage of these climate crises to spread disinformation. A report by France's Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS) says that climate disinformation has become a “tool for destabilisation”.

The number of heatwaves is on the rise in France, which endured its third major heatwave in mid-July. Climate disinformation is on the rise, too – as exemplified by this tweet, which insinuates that heatwaves in Europe may have been triggered by work done by the American scientific endeavour HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program), based at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.