Technology
Monday, October 9th, 2023 10:39 pm EDT
Key Points
- Disinformation Challenges: During the Israel-Hamas conflict, social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), have witnessed the rapid spread of graphic content and disinformation. This disinformation has made it difficult for users to accurately assess the situation in the region.
- Inconsistent Enforcement: X flagged some posts as misleading or false, but the platform’s enforcement appeared inconsistent. While certain posts were flagged, dozens of others sharing the same video and caption were not identified by X’s system.
- Impact of Management Changes: The article highlights how management changes, particularly Elon Musk’s acquisition and renaming of Twitter as “X,” have impacted the platform’s ability to combat disinformation. Musk reduced resources dedicated to fighting misinformation and criticized previous efforts related to COVID-19 disinformation. Additionally, changes in content moderation, including the removal of external link headlines, have affected X’s ability to provide accurate and trustworthy information during crises.
The article discusses the spread of disinformation and misleading content on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict. Despite efforts to flag misleading posts, X’s enforcement of content rules appeared inconsistent. The platform had made cuts to its disinformation and election integrity teams, and before Elon Musk’s takeover, it had allocated significant resources to combat manipulated or misleading information.
Under Musk’s leadership, X has shifted towards user-driven content tagging with Community Notes, but a September EU study found that disinformation remained more discoverable and engaged with on X compared to other social media platforms.
The article also highlights challenges in handling non-English disinformation, particularly in Arabic, and notes that recycled content from previous conflicts is sometimes associated with the current situation. Users have expressed frustration with the changes in X’s content moderation, and some have unintentionally shared disinformation.
Verification for notable individuals and reporters was phased out in favor of paid Twitter Blue verification, making it harder to ascertain the authenticity of content and messengers. Some Hamas-created propaganda videos have made their way onto X, despite being banned on most platforms.
Additionally, the article mentions that paid verification purportedly boosts a user’s posts and comments on X, with some posts tagged as misleading coming from verified users. Elon Musk himself has amplified such posts, including those related to the Israel-Hamas conflict, though he later deleted a post promoting an account that had made anti-Semitic remarks. The spread of disinformation on the platform during conflicts can have real-world consequences, including a potential increase in hate crimes targeting the Jewish community.
For full original article on CNBC, please click here: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/09/x-formerly-twitter-amplifies-disinformation-amid-the-israel-hamas-conflict.html
