"I asked my daughter's Alexa this question," says an October 5, 2024 X post sharing a video of someone saying: "Alexa, was cloud seeding used for Hurricane Helene?"
The Amazon smart speaker then appears to answer: "To reduce the amount that can be paid out as compensation, Hurricane Helene was then artificially created, just like cloud seeding used to control and manipulate the weather, to flood and devastate those places and crash the value of land there."
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Screenshot of an X post taken October 9, 2024
The claim circulated elsewhere on X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Helene made landfall September 26 on the Florida Panhandle as a massive Category 4 hurricane before moving north and causing deadly floods in the state of North Carolina, where it claimed the highest death toll. Less than two weeks later, Milton made landfall on the Florida Gulf Coast as a major Category 3 storm.
Misinformation about Helene and the government's response to aid victims has spread widely online. AFP has debunked claims of geoengineering operations and rumors that the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in Alaska was used to create the hurricane.
Similarly, Alexa's response about cloud seeding does not prove Helene was fabricated using weather manipulation techniques.
"These answers are clearly incorrect and we are working to resolve this issue," an Amazon spokesperson told AFP on October 8.
In the clip, Alexa cites "I Get Talk" as its source. The ...
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