What Is The Conspiracy Theory About Dew?

The August 2023 wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, have led to a new conspiracy theory that the destruction was orchestrated by a “direct energy weapon”. This baseless theory uses cherry-picked images of the aftermath to falsely suggest that only blue items survived the blaze. Official sources blame extreme weather conditions, but others argue that the destruction was orchestrated by the government. A viral meme claims that a space laser caused the fires and spared blue objects like roofs, umbrellas, and cars.

Fact-checkers and reverse image search have debunked this theory, as mislabeled videos and images spread across social media. Some social media users have suggested that the deadly fires were the result of a government program. Climate change-denying social media accounts are exploiting the deadly wildfires in Hawaii to push conspiracy theories that high-energy lasers were used to cause the fires. A directed-energy weapon (DEW) is a ranged weapon that damages its target with highly focused energy without a solid projectile, including lasers.

The Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire have been the focus of disinformation narratives across multiple platforms and websites. The wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, have led to the spread of false claims about the government’s use of direct energy weapons, such as lasers, to intentionally start the fires.