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Wellness influencers fueled pandemic misinformation. Now they’re targeting another crisis
For years there has been a merging of wellness, disinformation and conspiracy, as a subset of influencers use the backdrop of aesthetically pleasing, pastel-colored posts to spread much darker messages.
Health influencer @drmercola suggested to his 504,000 followers whether, while the media focused on climate change, the fires might have been deliberately set to “to facilitate a land grab” to make the area a “smart city” — referring to a technology-focused urban design idea. Joseph Mercola, the man behind the @drmercola Instagram account, told CNN that “humans are absolutely impacting the environment and the climate.” When asked about his comments on Hawaii’s wildfires, he said he accepts the consensus that dry conditions and strong winds fueled the blaze. The search of the wildfire wreckage Thursday on Maui revealed a wasteland of burned homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the stubborn blaze that has already claimed 53 lives, making it the deadliest in the U.S. in five years.
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