Wildfire conspiracy theories are going viral again. Why?

While investigators work to find out what caused multiple wildfires in the Los Angeles area, some conspiracies about the fires’ origins have spread on social media platforms.

Posts about baseless theories — ranging from celebrity involvement to secret government weapons — have racked up millions of views. 

Despite fact-checking efforts, researchers say conspiracies of this kind regularly emerge after large wildfires.

“I think that the more emotionally overwhelming it is, the more likely we are to just see high volumes of conspiracy theories to cope and make people feel like they have control,” said misinformation researcher Abbie Richards.

Directed energy weapons conspiracy resurfaces 

Misleading videos have fueled false claims that directed energy weapons, often referred to as DEWs, ignited the flames. The conspiracy theory suggests that governments or secret organizations use lasers or microwave systems to ignite fires.

Experts have repeatedly debunked these claims, attributing irregular burn patterns to natural factors like wind, terrain and vegetation.

While the U.S. has developed and tested DEWs for military applications — such as disabling enemy drones or missiles — there is no credible evidence of DEWs being employed in civilian settings, including for igniting wildfires. 

The DEW theory also surfaced during the California wildfires of 2018, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claiming in a now-deleted social media post the fires could be caused by lasers from space. And online users spread the conspiracy during other disasters including the Canadian and Maui fires in 2023 and the Texas Smokehouse Creek wildfire in 2024.

“Most people will see this sort of stuff and completely reject it because it doesn’t match with how they already view the world. But there are people who view the world through a conspiratorial lens,” said Joseph Uscinski, co-author of “American Conspiracy Theories.”

Claims that weather is manmade

Claims have circulated that the government could have geoengineered rain to stop the Los Angeles wildfires. 

Theories that the government has some control over the weather have surfaced after several natural disasters, including hurricanes Helene and Milton. And meteorologists and agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have debunked these claims.

People blame the government or company executives because it’s easier than facing structural problems, like drought conditions,” Geoff Dancy, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, told CBS News.

“That is more attractive to people that are desperate for order amid catastrophe,” Dancy said.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a December assessment on cloud seeding at least nine states are using the technology, which is “primarily funded at the state level or below” and there is little federal intervention.

For cloud seeding to be effective, the atmosphere around greater Los Angeles would have required more moisture in the clouds for water vapor to be condensed, Katja Friedrich, a cloud physics expert and professor at Colorado University at Boulder, told PolitiFact.

“The L.A. area is currently so dry that there is not enough water that you could condense,” Friedrich said.

Land grab conspiracy

Another unfounded claim shared on social media suggests the Southern California wildfires were started to clear land so officials could make way for what are called “smart cities,” aligned with United Nations’ goals.

The U.N.’s agenda to cut global emissions includes making cities more sustainable. And the Los Angeles Area’s SmartLA 2028 initiative suggests renovating the city’s transportation systems, among other technological changes, to make the city greener — but the plan does not involve mass demolition or rebuilding. 

This conspiracy also gained traction after the wildfires in Maui, when a video of Hawaii’s governor was clipped, taken out of context and shared to bolster the false claim the state was aiming to create a “smart city” on scorched land. And similar theories were debunked after wildfires in Canada and Spain’s Canary Islands. 

Celebrity crime cover-up conspiracy

Some posts that reached millions of people on TikTok falsely claim the wildfires were sparked to destroy evidence in the sex trafficking case against Sean “Diddy” Combs — falsely claiming his mansion was consumed in flames. 

In reality, Combs’ mansion remains intact and outside the evacuation zone as of Jan. 16.  

His home was raided in March by federal agents who seized evidence on the property, and People reported the home was listed for sale in September.

False claims about celebrity homes also spread after the Maui wildfire, with some users sharing baseless claims that Oprah Winfrey helped start those fires.

Addressing the spread of conspiracies

By coincidence, on the day the wildfires started, Facebook announced it was ending its third party fact checking program and loosening its automated systems that police policy violations, instead relying more on users to report issues before they take action. The platform is adopting a crowdsourced “community notes” system, similar to Elon Musk’s X. 

Dancy said conspiracy theorists are “benefitting from the information revolution” we live in. “It’s an attention economy, and conspiracy theories get attention,” Dancy said.

He advocates for regulating social media algorithms that prioritize sensational content. 

Richards, who wrote a thesis about climate conspiracy theories circulating on TikTok, agreed.

 “You’re fighting against algorithms that are designed for profit and not for creating a well-informed and healthy society,” she said.