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X under fire over Israel misinformation frenzy |
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Experts said changes to Twitter, now known as X, under Elon Musk have created a platform ripe for the spread of misinformation. |
False claims have spread across X since the Saturday launch of Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel, including posts of prior Israeli airstrikes being misrepresented as recent, and false claims of the U.S. sending a multi-billion dollar aid package to Israel.
Other false claims have spread from accounts posing as official news outlets, according to a compilation of examples cited in a report published by the left-leaning watchdog Media Matters for America.
“Misinformation and harmful content has always been a problem on social media. I think that this weekend’s events in Israel have demonstrated that,” said Caitlin Chin-Rothman, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“Especially Twitter, I would say, has really degraded its content moderation abilities,” Chin-Rothman added.
X’s trust and safety team said in a post late Monday it is “laser focused and dedicated to protecting the conversation on X and enforcing our rule as we continue to assess the situation on the platform.”
The team said they took action to remove newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts, along with “tens of thousands of posts” including graphic media, violent speech and hateful conduct.
The X trust and safety team has also leaned on “community notes” on posts. The program allows users to sign up to become contributors and create notes on posts for context. Users can also rate posts on their helpfulness.
Despite those efforts, experts and advocates said X has become a minefield of misinformation.
Musk has imposed several changes to the platform after buying it last year for $44 billion with the stated goal of breaking down what he considered barriers to free speech.
The company rolled back content moderation measures — and cut staffers tasked with those responsibilities. X also changed the verification process to strip public figures of blue check marks to denote their authenticity and instead allow users to pay for the symbols.
Most recently, X stopped showing headlines on posts containing links to articles. Posts now only display the lead image of a story and link to it through that image.
Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at media advocacy group Free Press, said Musk has created a “perfect storm” on X for the proliferation of misinformation about Israel.
“It’s a sobering but unsurprising moment that brings further clarity to how important content moderation and commitments to platform integrity are,” Benavidez said.
