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Firefighter goes viral by debunking fire conspiracies

2020-09-21T16:32:11.289Z


Firefighter Michael Clark debunked wildfire misinformation and conspiracy theories from another TikTok user.


These are the details of the agreement between TikTok and Oracle 1:36

(CNN) -

Firefighters are obviously known for fighting fires.

But one of them is taking his work one step further, by also fighting conspiracy theories.

This week Michael Clark, a Hawaiian firefighter, made a TikTok video debunking popular myths and misinformation about wildfires raging on the West Coast.

The video is a composite with another TikTok video in the left corner.

While that video perpetuates conspiracy theories, Clark debunks them on the right side of the screen.

  • Viral: The nun that is all the rage on TikTok

Conspiracies about the fires

The other user, hinting that the forest fires were planned, wondered, "Isn't it strange to know that the fires stop right at the border?"

For his part, Clark shook his head and said, 'Because what you're looking at is a data map of the United States.

No fires will be reported in Canada. "

The other video continues like this for about a minute.

Then Clark debunks the theory.

Apparently overnight, the video went viral.

It garnered millions of views on multiple social media platforms, beyond TikTok.

The 27-year-old added, "I've seen strange wildfire conspiracies before, but this one caught my eye."

2 million followers

The other user, she said, has a verified TikTok account with around 2 million followers.

For him, publishing misinformation about the fires seemed irresponsible.


"I don't want anyone to think of her badly," Clark said.

"But just with the amount of followers and influence she had, I didn't want people to take this and keep communicating it."

Verify the data

Clark admits that it is much more interesting to look at conspiracy theories than just facts.

But with everything happening now - the wildfires, the covid-19 pandemic - Clark said the last thing people need is for more misinformation to spread.

The most important thing you can do is simply verify your data, he said.

"That's my biggest advice, it's just to do your own research," he said.

"Obviously, the fires do not stop at the borders."

Clark created a Twitter account to claim the Wildlandmike username before anyone else.

He now has 23,000 followers, including actor Ryan Reynolds.

Since the video was uploaded, in addition to gaining thousands of new fans, some on the internet have dubbed Clark a "sexy firefighter."

And ladies: he's single.

California fires

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-09-21

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