Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, closed operations Wednesday night due to Hurricane Milton and tornadoes that appeared before the storm even made landfall. But if you're seeing photos of the theme park completely flooded, Disney fans can rest easy. These photos are completely fake. But Russian state media, TikTok and X are helping them spread.
Russian state media outlet RIA made a post on Telegram Thursday with three images that appear to show Disney World underwater. “Social media users post photos of Disneyland flooding in Florida as a result of Hurricane Milton,” the RIA account said, according to an English translation.
How do we know these images are fake? For starters, the buildings are not in good shape. If you compare, for example, the appearance of both sides of Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom, you will not see the buildings that appear in the fake image.
But you don't even need to know what Cinderella's real Caste looks like to know it's fake. Just enlarge the towers of the building itself. They are not fully rendered and some appear at very strange angles that make it clear that they are AI-generated images.
The images quickly made their way back to X, the site formerly known as Twitter before it was purchased by Elon Musk. And it's impossible to overstate how horrible this platform has become. From Holocaust denial tweets that are getting millions of views to breaking news tweets that show images of crying children, the whole place is bubbling with garbage.
The fake Disney World images were shared by right-wing influencer Mário Nawfala, a frequent purveyor of misinformation who is frequently retweeted by Musk himself. Just as a recent example, Nawfal contributed to a rumor about Jimmy Carter's death in July, which was shared by other idiots like Laura Loomer and Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah. Nawfal's tweet helped spread the fake Disney X photos further before finally deleting them.
There have also been videos shared on TikTok showing incredibly exaggerated images of destruction at Disney World, like this one shared by user @joysparkleshine. The video appears to have been originally created as a joke by an account called MouseTrapNotícias but is being reposted and stripped of all context, taken seriously by a certain segment of the population.
Some comments on the video include “I'm screaming out the only place that made me feel like a kid again” and “Well… maybe now they'll show all the underground tunnels under Disney next. Those who know… KNOW!!”
This last comment is a reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims that children are being trafficked by powerful political figures and people like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks. Incredibly, they believe Donald Trump will save these children. Yes, that Donald Trump.
Some AI images of the hurricane that were created as a joke began to appear in various Russian media outlets. Like the one below, which shows Pluto in a life jacket carrying a child through floodwaters. The image appears to have been sincerely shared by Rubryka.com, which credits the image to Bretral Florida Tourism Oversight District, an X account dedicated to theme park jokes.
Another joke image shared by this account, Bretral Florida Tourism Oversight District, showed a photo of a boat stuck on a large mountainous rock, which anyone familiar with Disney World will recognize as a permanent fixture at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park.
The sun is starting to rise in Florida.
Jesus Christ. #furacãomilton pic.twitter.com/EQwQOEgqnU
-Scott Walker (@scottwalker88) October 10, 2024
Other accounts on X shared QAnon theories, insisting that the destruction of Disney World could finally reveal the truth about child trafficking.
“Look at Mickey’s arms,” one particularly bizarre tweet featuring an image of a Mickey Mouse watch reads. “Could they be showing a date? October 9th. The day the storm hit Disney World. There are no coincidences. The military is clearing the tunnels below. Used for human trafficking of children and other horrific crimes.”
Look at Mickey's arms. Could they be showing a date? October 9th. The day the storm hit Disney World.
There are no coincidences.
The military is clearing the tunnels below. Used for human trafficking of children and other horrific crimes.
«Hurricane Milton hits Walt… pic.twitter.com/Z7rZH2uVbb
-Bendleruschka (@bendleruschka) October 10, 2024
Milton made landfall as a Category 3, which caused thousands of canceled flights, destroyed homes and businesses with high winds and killed at least nine people, according to NBC News, although that number is expected to grow as Floridians weigh in. the damages.
Disney posted an update to its website on Thursday explaining that everything would open back up on Friday.
“We are grateful that Walt Disney World Resort weathered the storm and are currently assessing the impacts on our property to prepare for the reopening of the theme parks, Disney Springs and possibly other areas on Friday, October 11th. Floridians who were impacted by this storm,” the site reads.
But whatever you do, don't believe everything you read on social media without double-checking with some reliable sources. It's a ridiculous environment for misinformation right now. And that will likely continue to be our reality for the foreseeable future.
