Old videos, fake photos, manipulated narratives, and even video game scenes are shared as if they were real. “Level disinformation Open war between Israel And Hamas algorithmically introduced excitement “This is unlike anything I have encountered in my career as a political scientist,” warned American political analyst Ian Bremmer.
A few hours later Hamas Launched the biggest attack on Israel in recent years hoaxes All kinds of waters began to flow social network Renamed to X. Although misinformation is always present, many experts have noted that the changes introduced by Elon Musk have weakened the platform’s credibility in times of crisis and turned the platform into a propaganda battlefield where anything goes.
Hundreds of fake messages have spread online since Saturday. These are old images Loop, West Bank or Israel, which has videos shared up to date but also decontextualized from other conflicts, or Syria. In some cases, crude manipulation can be seen, such as associating Hamas with the Israeli government. Ukraine or make people believe that the Israeli police operation was a raid terrorist From the Palestinian jihadist group.
However, this does not prevent this content from being viewed tens of millions of times, jumping to other platforms. tiktok, Telegram anyone Facebook Therefore, it intoxicates the public. “It is now almost impossible to know what is fact, what is rumor, what is theory. comploResearcher Mike Rothschild told Bloomberg:
lie that makes money
Most of these messages are shared by verified X users. Musk eliminated the previous messages after taking control of the company. check The blue mark – an award given to journalists and public figures – which previously gave accuracy to profiles, is up for sale. Now, every paying user has the advantage of having their pins and messages made more public.
Multiple investigations in recent months have revealed how extremist groups have taken advantage of the change to amplify hate messages, while the old Twitter has done nothing to eliminate them. In addition, Musk also promoted a method. earning money This allows most viral users to charge for their content. Again, they became the world’s leading ‘influencers’. far right those who profit the most from it.
This logic is particularly problematic in the following context: geopolitical turbulence like we are experiencing now Middle East. Beyond ideology, an economic incentive is now added to misinformation. Thus Musk’s money-making plan that rewards him viral It accelerates users’ interest in publishing shocking content that manages to attract the attention of all types of users. Liesbecause this will mean more income.
Musk promotes misinformation
It’s not just internal changes at Twitter that have led to misinformation about it. Palestine and Israel. This Sunday, Musk advised his almost 160 million followers to trust two accounts that are known not only for repeatedly posting discredited hoaxes, but also for making offensive comments. anti-semitic. The businessman also responded to other publications that spread lies, and this strategy served to strengthen them.
“Musk has fundamentally undermined the credibility of the breaking news narrative on his platform. He has not given a voice to the voiceless, instead he has dragged us all into the quagmire, and the only people who truly benefit from it are scammers “without hesitation,” he complained. Eliot Higginsfounder and manager of the research team bellingcat.
Hold the user responsible
After taking control of Twitter in November 2022, Musk fired most of the content moderation team, relaxed publishing rules and reactivated accounts of extremists among them. donald trump anyone Kanye West— has backtracked on its commitment to stopping misinformation and made it more difficult for researchers analyzing the platform’s workings to access it.
We are facing an avalanche of misinformation, but Musk continues to put the onus on the user. Therefore, we are determined to pay more attention to this issue by reminding that those who do not want to see sensitive videos such as murder can activate a function that will prevent these videos from appearing. Community Notesis a tool that ensures that the company’s users and non-experts are responsible for contextualizing fake messages that spread rapidly on the Internet.
“I’ve been fact-checking Twitter for years, and there’s always a lot of misinformation during major events. But the avalanche of false messages over the last two days, mostly delivered to Twitter Blue, is something else entirely.” he warned. Shayan Sardarizadeh, BBC expert. “Neither fact checkers nor Community Notes can keep up with this.”