Fake news and misinformation are surging amid the deadly Los Angeles wildfires, with right-wing social media accounts falsely accusing Black people of looting amid the devastation—igniting a fiery political debate on racial profiling as the death toll grew to 24 over the weekend.
The controversy erupted when The Chingon Conservative, a MAGA-inspired influencer with 49,000 followers, shared a video on Instagram showing several Black men moving furniture and valuables from a home threatened by flames — framing them as criminals and creating a false narrative out of whole cloth.
The edited video quickly went viral on the platform X, where numerous right-wing operatives eagerly shared it to push the racist narrative, only to later discover they had completely misjudged the situation.
Another angle of the same news clip, showing the same men moving furniture, also features the homeowner speaking with news crews about salvaging her belongings from the flames as they were being removed from her home. Yet, many blindly accepted the falsified story and ran with it, highlighting how easily discrimination spreads on social media through misinformation and unchecked biases.
Many were angered by the false allegations.
“Because they’re Black, they must be looting? This isn’t an honest mistake,” one person on X noted.
Another user said, “This type of f***king fake news spilling racist content should really be penalized and accounts permanently suspended. Poor family literally following orders to evacuate and being labeled as looters purely because they’re African American. Sick sick stuff.”
The false claims also drew the attention of NFL digital media specialist Phil Jones, who wrote: “Stop spreading false information. Nobody is looting here they were helping that woman get her belongings out of her house. Smfh…”
Other voices voiced deeper frustration, condemning the blatant lies targeting Black people amid the ongoing national crisis in Southern California. Despite the clear misinformation, none of the social media accounts responsible for spreading the incendiary rhetoric issued apologies.
“The slander of Black people can’t even take a break for a tragedy,” wrote Ebro on Instagram, calling attention to the truth of the matter. “This footage, aired by KTLA News, shows family and friends helping a woman evacuate her home during a fire. The homeowner confirmed in an interview that these are her loved ones, not looters,” the post continued.
Officials have confirmed that at least 20 people have been arrested for looting as the fires continue to burn through thousands of acres with no end in sight, with thousands of homes and businesses destroyed.
When the fires broke out last week, MAGA-World quickly swarmed to social media to criticize Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for failing to contain the blaze promptly and blaming them for inadequate water supplies.
Despite lacking the full facts, social media voices falsely claimed that massive portable water tanks had not been adequately filled before the inferno. The harsh right-wing messaging spread like the fires burning in Los Angeles, with many amplifying criticisms voiced by billionaire Elon Musk, who labeled Bass as “utterly incompetent.”
Bass was compelled to hold a news conference to debunk the false claims.
“Claims that the tanks weren’t full are false. On Monday evening, all available water tanks were filled before the fire,” Bass said, adding that “the water pressure dropped as a result of the massive need to fight” as many as five large fires in the area simultaneously.
The death toll is expected to rise as investigators comb through tens of thousands of acres that have been reduced to ashes.
Both the Eaton and Palisades fires continue to pose a threat to thousands of homes on several fronts, with Firefighters still facing gusty winds between 30 to 50 mph, according to the latest reports.
