We came across multiple posts on the social media platforms TikTok, Instagram, X and the alt-right video-sharing platform Bitchute about the following topic:

The posts claim that a fault line had been revealed in Yellowstone National Park in the US, causing massive cracks in the ground. Some of the posts added that that the cracks were forming around the Yellowstone supervolcano, which could potentially result in a cataclysmic disaster.

In addition, some posts also said that the person who posted the original video showing the ‘fault line’, the TikTok user ‘rednecklown’, had gone missing and that all his videos on the topic had been deleted. These posts suggested that the TikTok user had been forcibly suppressed, intimating that the authorities were attempting to cover up the situation.

In the original video, the person taking the video describes the cracks in the ground as a ‘fault line’. The cracks are clearly visible and seen to extend for at least many hundreds of metres. At one point, he investigates the depth of the crack in one spot and finds it to be ‘probably at least two feet (6.1m) deep.

The video does not specify that the location is Yellowstone, but multiple posts describe the location to be in Wyoming, near Yellowstone.

Yellowstone at the Epicentre of Disinformation

When we conducted a keyword search, we found multiple instances in the past of disinformation regarding the possibility of a volcanic eruption or other natural disasters at Yellowstone.

In 2018, rangers closed off parts of Grand Teton National Park, which is connected to Yellowstone, after noticing that cracks in a rock wall had expanded and gotten bigger. While this prompted a few scares, the expanding cracks were the result of natural geological activity—and the affected rock wall did not sit on top of Yellowstone’s volcanic magma caldera.

These fears were fanned by news articles such as one in the American conservative tabloid New York Post, which published an article linking the fissures to the Yellowstone supervolcano.

In 2022, false claims emerged that Yellowstone had closed after its volcano had erupted, while in 2023, there were more false claims that NASA had announced that a 100-foot crack had opened up the Yellowstone volcano. Both these claims were debunked.

While it is true that Yellowstone National Park sits atop one of the largest volcanoes in the world, often referred to as a supervolcano, there are no indications that the conditions—the required volume of magma and pressure—are in place for it to erupt any time soon.

The US Geological Survey, which posts regular updates on the volcanic activity at Yellowstone, recorded a normal alert level on 1 July 2024.

Explaining the Fissures

Digging deeper into the origin of the ground fissures, we found that similar cracks had emerged in the past in Wyoming.

In 2015, a crack the length of ‘six football fields’ was explained by geologists to be the likely result of a landslide. The landslide was assessed to have been precipitated by subsurface water from a wet spring that caused movements and division in the ground.

The geologists noted that such landslides were common in Wyoming, and that over the years, over 40,000 landslides had been recorded in the state.

These ground fissures are different from fault lines, which form between blocks of rock, and which can cause earthquakes when the blocks move relative to each other. The landslides in Wyoming also occurred without any earthquakes having been reported.

The Missing TikToker

When we looked up the user ‘rednecklown’ on TikTok, we found that he had explained the removal of his previous videos in his latest post.

The user said that he had taken it down because he had gotten tired of the overwhelming attention his video had received, stating that it had received 500 million views in four days and prompted multiple private messages.

The user also clarified that the ground fissure was ‘not a fault line’ and that he had mistakenly described it as one after being told it was one by someone else. He said it was a ‘slow-moving landslide’ and that it had been ‘happening for years’.

Despite the clarification, several of the comments on the post indicated that some users still believed that he was being forced to lie to cover up the truth.

Given the history of landslides and ground fissures in Wyoming, there is therefore a natural explanation for the cracks in the ground seen in the video. There is also no evidence of any link to the Yellowstone supervolcano, which is currently assessed to not pose any risk of eruption soon.

Moreover, the allegations of a cover-up have been dispelled by the TikTok user’s response video, which includes a clarification of the structures seen in his previous video.

As such, it is false that fault lines are forming around the Yellowstone volcano and portending an impending natural disaster.