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Australian wildfires spur biggest Facebook fundraiser ever

"Make no mistake, the tragedy unfolding in Australia is climate change-based," actor Russell Crowe wrote in a message relayed by Jennifer Aniston at Sunday night's Golden Globes.
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As deadly wildfires continue to devastate Australia, celebrities have begun campaigning on social media to raise funds to support efforts to stamp out the blazes.

The wildfires have ravaged three states, claiming 24 lives, destroying almost 2,000 homes and burning at least 12 million acres of land. World Wide Fund For Nature-Australia estimates approximately half a billion animals have been killed.

As the flames continued to devastate the country, fundraisers began springing up on social media.

On Facebook, nearly a million people helped raise more than $26 million for The Trustee For NSW Rural Fire Service & Brigades Donations Fund. Another fundraiser has collected more than $3 million for WIRES Wildlife Rescue, while a third has raised more than $1 million for The Trustee For Country Fire Authority & Brigades Donations Fund.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that the fundraiser for NSW Rural Fire Service, which was started by Australian actor, writer and comedian Celeste Barber, is the largest fundraiser ever on the platform.

The previous largest fundraiser was created by Charlotte and Dave Willner for RAICES, which raised $20.77M from 536K donors, the Facebook spokesperson said in an email.

One viral fundraising campaign on Instagram by a nude model, however, was shut down for violating the platform's terms of service.

“This account was disabled for violating our policies. Offering nude images is not allowed on Instagram,” a Facebook company spokesperson told NBC News via email.

The efforts to raise money were also coupled with a push to raise awareness for just how much of Australia had burned during the weekslong wildfires.

One particularly viral image began to spread over the weekend. Australian artist Anthony Hearsey used satellite data from NASA to create an image showing the parts of the country that had been logged as fire hot spots between Dec. 5 and Jan. 5. The image was later shared on Twitter by singer Rihanna.

On Twitter, authors using the #AuthorsForFireys hashtag offered to sell signed books and unique experiences in order to raise money for fire relief.

As grassroots social media campaigns took off, so did celebrity efforts to raise money for those battling the fires.

At the Golden Globes on Sunday night, the topic was repeatedly brought up by presenters and award winners.

When actor Russell Crowe won the award for best performance by an actor in a mini-series or motion picture made for television, presenter Jennifer Aniston announced that he was not there to accept the award because he was back home in Australia protecting his family from the fires.

"Make no mistake, the tragedy unfolding in Australia is climate change-based. We need to act based on science, move our global workforce to renewable energy and respect our planet for the unique and amazing place it is," Aniston said on Crowe's behalf. "That way, we all have a future."

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under scrutiny for his leadership and his government's record on climate change as the fires worsened. He was criticized for taking a vacation in Hawaii during the blazes and chided for past remarks that appeared to minimize the link between climate change and Australia's escalating threats of drought and wildfires.

"There is no dispute in this country about the issue of climate change globally and its effect on global weather patterns and that includes how it impacts in Australia," he later said. “I have to correct the record here. I have seen a number of people suggest that somehow the government does not make this connection. The government has always made this connection and that has never been in dispute.”

Other celebrities at the Golden Globes, including Patricia Arquette and Ellen DeGeneres, mentioned the Australian fires as they accepted awards Sunday night.

Off the red carpet, celebrities asked their followers to help in any way they could.

Comedian Nick Kroll, who is on his "Middle-Aged Boy" standup tour in Australia, shared a video on Twitter, in which he and Australian actor Joel Edgerton discussed a campaign they've launched to raise funds for fire relief called "Fight Fire with a Fiver."

"People don't know that they're all volunteers, that they don't get paid to do this, they're leaving their regular jobs to do this, to fight these fires, which are raging all over Australia," Kroll said of rural firefighters in Australia as he urged his followers to donate.

In a tweet posted after the video, Kroll posted an image of all the money he'd raised at one of his shows, saying it totaled more than $4,100 Australian dollars.

In a video posted to her Instagram, actress Margot Robbie shared images of her childhood in Australia.

"I'm sure you're all aware what's happening in Australia with the fires. I didn't want to show you more pictures of the devastation. I wanted you to see how beautiful our country is, because it is so beautiful, and it's really, really hurting right now," Robbie said. "And it really, really needs you to please, please donate anything you can."

Robbie said that despite being "terrible with technology," she had donated to a host of websites and that it only took her about one minute to do so — she asked her followers to do the same, even if they donated the price of their cup of coffee.

Other celebrities such as singer Pink and Australian-born actors Nicole Kidman and Chris Hemsworth, who pledged to donate $500,000 and $1 million respectively, shared links to several fire services that were accepting donations.

"Our family’s support, thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the fires all over Australia," Kidman wrote on Instagram. "We are donating $500,000 to the Rural Fire Services who are all doing and giving so much right now."

"We're really still in the thick of it here. There's plenty of challenging times still ahead," Hemsworth said in a video on Instagram.

"Hopefully, you guys can chip in too. Every penny counts so whatever you can muster up is greatly appreciated," Hemsworth wrote. "It really does make a difference, so dig deep!"