In late September, Hurricane Helene battered the southeast United States. About two weeks later, Hurricane Milton cut a brutal swath through Florida. The storms were devastating —massive property destruction and, even more tragically, the loss of lives. In the wake of both storms, misinformation complicated rescue and relief efforts, compounding the tragedies the hurricane victims had already faced. Employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were threatened with violence in response to supposed conspiracy theories that they would scam storm victims. For safety reasons, FEMA workers briefly stopped going door to door before continuing their relief efforts. Even meteorologists faced death threats because of false claims that they were controlling the weather. The absurdity of this was captured in a social media post by meteorologist Kate Nickolaou: “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes. I can’t believe I just had to type that.”

Other misinformation may seem tame by comparison. Artificial intelligence (AI) photos of a young girl crying while on a life raft........

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