Disasters, Disinformation, and Depositions

Brandy Mai is a U.S. Army veteran who was born and raised in deep south Louisiana. She is also an attorney and an emergency management consultant who's worked extensively in communications and public information, helping multiple organizations and agencies navigate their crisis and disaster strategies. Her professional experience includes work in military and government, corporate, nonprofit, emergency management, homeland security, and public safety sectors, including a position as lead public information officer for a state emergency management agency. In her spare time, Brandy is an advocate for veterans, children, disabled persons, marginalized populations, and persons with mental health diagnoses. She and her four kids reside in Savannah, Georgia.

Notes & Resources

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FEMA's Emergency Support Function 15 (ESF-15): External Affairs

ESF-15 coordinates public information, emergency public information, and media affairs during federal disaster response operations. This function ensures consistent, accurate, and timely information reaches the public, media, and other stakeholders during emergencies.

Key Responsibilities:

• Coordinate public information activities across federal agencies

• Support state, local, tribal, and territorial public information efforts

• Manage media relations and press operations

• Facilitate community relations and public engagement

• Coordinate with private sector and non-governmental organization communications

ESF-15 operates under the principle that effective communication saves lives and reduces suffering by ensuring the public receives critical safety information, evacuation orders, and recovery guidance.

Source: FEMA, "Emergency Support Function #15 – External Affairs Annex" (January 2008), available at https://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf-esf-15.pdf

Facebook's negative emotions study

In 2012, Facebook conducted a controversial psychological experiment on 689,000 users without their explicit consent. For one week, researchers manipulated users' News Feeds to show either more positive or negative content, then measured how this affected users' own posting behavior.

Key Findings:

Users exposed to less positive content subsequently posted more negative updates

Users exposed to more positive content posted more positive updates

This demonstrated "emotional contagion" - that emotions can spread through social networks

The Controversy:

Ethical concerns: Users weren't informed they were research subjects or given option to opt out

Manipulation criticism: Researchers deliberately altered users' emotional states by controlling what content they saw

Consent issues: The study relied on Facebook's general terms of service rather than specific research consent

Response:

Facebook data scientist Adam Kramer apologized, acknowledging "the research benefits may not have justified all of this anxiety"

Legal experts called it "psychological manipulation"

The study raised broader questions about tech companies conducting behavioral experiments on users

EM Peer Wellness

Kate Starbird: A Spotlight on Rumors: Illuminating How Influence and Improvisation Shape Online Conversations

The Crazy Frog Intro to Disaster Deployments