Since the escalation of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, social media has been inundated with misinformation, disinformation, and unchecked reports. One platform, in particular, stands out as a major culprit – Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter.
Countless false narratives have been circulated on X, such as a fabricated White House document claiming that Joe Biden had agreed to provide an $8 billion aid package to Israel. Additionally, a fake account pretending to be The Jerusalem Post spread false news of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being hospitalized. Another account attached false English subtitles to an old video of Vladimir Putin, falsely claiming that he had threatened to support Palestine. (The video was from January and showed Putin discussing the threat of nuclear war.)
Surprisingly, Musk himself has contributed to the spread of sham news items. He encouraged his 150 million followers to rely on accounts known for sharing false information, a post he later deleted. Furthermore, he reacted with a laughing emoji to a video that included doctored audio of CNN’s Clarissa Ward, falsely portraying her as an actor. While the video itself was real, the audio track was fabricated and distorted the reality of the moment.
In response to criticisms, X’s Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino stated that the company is approaching the war situation with care and has formed a leadership group to assess the issue. Yaccarino emphasized X’s commitment to addressing illegal content disseminated through the platform.
The European Union’s commissioner for internal market, Thierry Breton, expressed concerns about illegal content, disinformation, and manipulated images on X in a letter to Musk. Failure to respond within 24 hours could result in penalties under the EU’s new Digital Services Act. Yaccarino assured that X has promptly and diligently removed offending content in response to the European Commission’s requests.
Under Musk’s ownership, X’s reliability has decreased significantly. The trust and safety division has been reorganized, and the account authentication system, which provided verified badges to news outlets, politicians, and governments, has been eliminated. Anyone can now purchase and receive a “verified” badge, granting increased visibility and potential payouts from X, regardless of the content’s accuracy.
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