Multiple videos on YouTube are pushing a baseless conspiracy theory that anti-fascists are starting wildfires across the West Coast -- and these videos contain ads, meaning both YouTube and the accounts posting the videos are making money while advancing harmful misinformation.
During the month of September, record wildfires made worse by climate change have raged across California, Oregon, and Washington. As the fires have spread and officials have tried to contain them, a conspiracy theory claiming that “antifa” has been behind the wildfires has spread across major social media platforms. In reality, as NBC News noted, incidents like “lightning, faulty or knocked-down power lines and accidents” have been reported as the cause of many of the fires. Authorities, including the FBI, have been forced to rebut the false “antifa“ claim as people have refused to evacuate and militia groups are getting active.
A Media Matters review found multiple YouTube videos uploaded since September 7 with hundreds of thousands of combined views that give credence to, or fully embrace, the conspiracy theory and also run ads, leading to the account owners and YouTube making money from them. (Media Matters searched online tracking tool BuzzSumo for YouTube videos with “antifa” and then “wildfires,” “fires,” or “arson” in the title.)
One of these videos comes from the verified conspiracy theory channel and frequent misinformation-pusher The Next News Network, and it is titled “ANTIFA behind RAGING Wildfires? Experts Believe it's a Coordinated and Planned Attack.” In the video, host Gary Franchi said that “some experts believe that it's a coordinated and planned attack” by antifa, citing a false article from the site Law Enforcement Today. He later added that as the West Coast states “continue to burn, literally burn, and likely at the hands of antifa,” it was evidence why President Donald Trump “needs to step in and stop this Marxist revolution now.”