In a recent social media post, Birmingham ABC 33/40's Chief Meteorologist James Spann (shown above) wrote that “there’s snow and rumors of snow on social media outlets just about every day through March.”
“People are just flocking to rogue accounts on the social platforms, especially TikTok where they're hearing in two weeks there’s going to be an historic snowstorm that's going to shut down the whole state or the whole part of the country where they live. People believe this, and there's absolutely no skill in forecasting a winter storm two weeks in advance.”
He says he had a viewer that was considering cancelling an elective surgery due to a video they had seen on TikTok about a future weather event.
Spann said it’s about making money, and that one influencer’s video allegedly made about $8,000. He says influencers like this don’t care about the truth.
“What disturbs me is that these players on YouTube and TikTok with the two- and three-weeks snow forecast and hurricane forecast, they're making huge money by scaring people. Are you kidding me? And listen, I'm all for making money. I am all for it. If you can make $8000 on one video, go for it. But doing it by misinformation and scaring people and fear porn, which is what it is, that’s ridiculous.”
Think before you type
He says he believes in free speech, but there are consequences to it, as he and others are forced to answer questions about misleading information people see online.
Finally, he says to think before you share something on social media.
