There is perhaps no more polarizing topic on social media than the conflict between Israel and Palestine. And on X (formerly Twitter) this polarization seems to have already conquered every debate. The war sparked by the Hamas attack last Saturday is considered by many to be the first real test for the platform bought last year by Elon Musk. And as often happens in tests, something doesn’t seem to be going right at the moment.
Musk – who in some way embodies this polarization of opinions – less than 48 hours after the outbreak of the conflict ended up at the center of controversy on the social network (paid 44 billion) for having shared a post in which he suggested following for accurate “coverage in real time” of the events in Gaza two accounts: WarMonitors e Late defender. “They are excellent”, he said. Only to then reveal two accounts close to the reasons of the Palestinians, who in the past have not spared accusations of ‘Judaism’ and ‘Zionism’ against other users of the social network. The two accounts were therefore far from reliable. Not at all ‘great’ sources of information. Musk, realizing the error, deleted his post shortly after.
A stumble. Easier to commit on social media when you claim to become an accurate source of information. Musk has already established his platform as the home of citizen journalism. The one from below. Made by the people for the people. The antidote to the traditional media, which Musk considers hostile to himself and which he does not hold back from writing more or less in a daily dosage.
Musk’s error in some way demonstrates that X is currently quite far from being able to be accredited as a source of accredited information – as long as it is not authoritative institutions or newspapers that disseminate it. An example. In these hours a verified account spread the news of the death of the Indian economist Amartya Sen. The news is not true and Sen’s colleagues and students had to intervene to try to stem its spread.
It is difficult to find authoritative sources. The blue ticks only certify that the social network is now paid for
Twitter was the platform best known for verified accounts. Primary information sources, recognized journalists or institutions. Now the blue check can be bought for 8 euros. And during the new war between Israel and Hamas this information spread by blue ticks is only creating confusion. The effect, claim several analysts in the international media, is that an enormous amount of unverified information is spreading on social media.
Fake images of bombings, violence, beheadings taken from other conflicts or past conflicts, always bloody, always terrible, but which do not concern what is happening in Gaza these days. X and TikTok seem to be the megaphones where this false information can spread. The analyzes seem to suggest more than elsewhere, more than in the past. Hard to say. Just as it is difficult to identify a single matrix.
Thread: Online misinformation about the conflict between Hamas and Israel – day three
This video doesn’t show a salvo of rockets fired by Hamas towards Israel.
It’s from the Syrian war, and was shared online in 2020. pic.twitter.com/62xm6tpGu7
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) October 8, 2023
“A cultural war has also broken out. And it’s being fought on social media”
“A cultural war has also broken out in recent hours. There are many fake accounts and bots that spread propaganda and false information. But above all there are real people who are sharing these videos and photos. And regarding the war in Israel, we know that they are people close to Hamas. It’s the same thing that happened with Al Qaeda ten years ago,” Juan Clades of the European Jewish Association commented to our newspaper. The data from some studies published in recent hours would seem to confirm that there is also a cultural war underway.
Cyabra is an Israeli analytics company. Even in this case, therefore, it is a biased point of view, but it is the only analysis on social media available at the moment. Yesterday the company released data according to which one in five social media accounts participating in online conversations about Hamas attacks and their aftermath is fake. Cyabra found that around 30,000 fake accounts spread pro-Hamas disinformation or collected sensitive details about their targets. The company said the fake accounts – many of them automated bots not operated by humans – were particularly active on X and TikTok, but also appeared on other platforms. “There is a war going on on social media too. And it is not just propaganda that is fighting it, but also those associations, those politicians who openly support Hamas’ reasons and justify their actions”, adds Caldes.
Misinformation Monitor Propaganda travels unchecked on X by McKenzie Sadeghi, Jack Brewster and Macrina Wang 26 September 2023
Musk and X run for cover. US media reveal: she no longer has the tools to do it
It was said. There is perhaps no topic more polarizing than this war. More than the conflict in Ukraine. More than any conflict reported on the platforms so far. Musk – who has noticed the proliferation of all types of propaganda – is trying to take action. He has announced new control policies on the platform and invites users to use the tools to report false information or unverified photos and videos to avoid the spread of misinformation and propaganda.
It’s hard to think that Musk doesn’t want to stem the phenomenon. In recent years he has made many enemies, he has often been divisive. But it’s an accusation that doesn’t hold up. Just as that of anti-Semitism which occasionally appears in some analyzes holds little water – a few months ago he was accused of anti-Semitism for having compared George Soros to Magneto, a Jewish criminal from Marvel’s X-Man series; In short, Musk puts his own spin on it.
His intentions may even be good. The problem is that he may no longer have the tools to do so. Checking information from the user base is much slower than spreading a post on social media. Furthermore, according to what was reported today by The Information, just in recent months the company has apparently decided to turn off a proprietary tool capable of identifying the spread of a post made by bots. Officially, due to cost issues. These online conversation analysis tools are essential to stem the phenomenon of the organized spread of false information. Entrusting them only to users is not as effective. And it faces the prejudices of individuals, their ability to verify, remember, decide from time to time what is true and what is not.
Musk gives confusing signals. His social network is also a bit confusing
Phenomena that have caused much controversy online. Musk has been impeached again. For not having verified the accounts he said he trusted first and for having introduced control tools that were too bland then. Some have accused him of anti-Semitism. Others of being far too pro-Israeli.
As often happens, the best summary came from a meme. Elon Musk shared it. A comic. On a dashboard there are two buttons with two options: one says that X is an anti-Semite, the other that he is a Zionist sounding board. The person who has to choose what to press is a man, the image of the mainstream media, considered the cause of many evils.
The meme hides a truth. With his behavior, with his actions on social media, it is really difficult to understand what Musk thinks, what he thinks of X and in some cases of himself. His communication oscillates between sensationalism and irony, the precision of an engineer and the nuances of a conspiracy theorist.
First he promotes pro-Hamas accounts, then he points out a tweet from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who released a video of the attack on the rave where 260 young people lost their lives – once again contravening the thesis of maximum freedom on the platform. Musk demonstrates uncertainty. It’s obvious. It’s normal. He is almost desirable. X reflects these uncertainties by showing difficulties and errors. To paraphrase a book dedicated to his vision of the world (The Man Who Wanted to Solve the Future, 2022), a man alone cannot solve anything. Not even a social network.