2023-10-10 16:17:59
Published on Oct 10, 2023 at 5:58 p.m. Updated on Oct 11, 2023 at 10:18 a.m.
Children held in animal cages, messages evoking arms sales from Ukraine… Since the Hamas attack on Israel, photos and videos taken out of context or completely staged have multiplied on social networks and in particular on X (formerly Twitter). Some are from video games, while other images were actually old.
The platform, acquired about a year ago by Elon Musk, was the scene of this disinformation. “It was the first real test of Elon Musk’s Twitter version” and the site “failed spectacularly,” summarizes Mike Rothschild, researcher, quoted by the Bloomberg agency.
And for good reason: this outbreak of “fake news” is closely linked to the fact that Elon Musk has significantly reduced the platform’s workforce, particularly the moderation teams. “Even though wars are generally the breeding ground for false information, it seems that there has been a particular outbreak of ‘fake news’ on Twitter,” says Chine Labbé, editor-in-chief of NewsGuard.
Flood of messages
And this is especially true since the attack generated a huge number of messages: since the war, X has noticed an increase in the number of daily active users. Furthermore, “more than 50 million messages were posted around the world on the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel this weekend,” according to the platform.
Worse, many accounts peddling “fake news” had the blue checkmark, a certification system set up by the social network, which may have given them the appearance of credibility. “Posts spreading false information with certification saw a high number of engagements. This added to the ambient chaos,” adds Chine Labbé.
NewsGuard identified for “Les Echos” four main types of false assertions, seen hundreds of thousands of times, even millions: “Israel let it happen in order to retaliate”; “Israel staged images of dead children killed by Hamas”; “the Biden administration approved an $8 billion aid package for Israel”; “Ukraine sold weapons to Hamas”. For example, a message from Silvano Trotta, a conspiratorial figure active during Covid-19, has been viewed more than 600,000 times!
Struggle for influence
Furthermore, “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unleashes passions. Taken by emotion, some forget the basic rules of caution for verification,” explains Arnaud Mercier, professor at Panthéon-Assas University. “There is a lot of struggle for influence over legitimate representations of the conflict. On both sides, disinformation experts have long invested in social networks. » And above all, “Elon Musk has decided to free himself from all control”.
I have not commented on the atrocities that I have seen over and over since this morning. No one will make me believe that the most informed army in the world, in the most monitored country in the world, with armed men on every street corner, could have allowed armed men to pass who did not… https://t.co/I5y7vUsdos
— SILVANO TROTTA OFFICIEL (@silvano_trotta) October 7, 2023
Especially since the entrepreneur behind SpaceX and Tesla himself invited his approximately 160 million subscribers to follow two accounts often relaying false information (@WarMonitors and @sentdefender), sometimes anti-Semitic. The post, deleted a few hours later, was viewed 11 million times, according to le « Washington Post ».
The drift on Twitter has also been highlighted by several studies. In September, Brussels singled out X as being the worst performer in terms of disinformation.
The American group indicated in a post that it had deleted several hundred accounts and highlighted “community notes” (to add context to potentially misleading comments). He also explains that although it is “incredibly difficult to see some content”, it is “in the public’s interest to understand what is happening in real time”. When contacted, X did not respond to our request for details.
Brussels calls Twitter to order
The rise of disinformation has not left Brussels indifferent. Wednesday evening, Thierry Breton published a letter on X (formerly Twitter) threatening the group with sanctions. Elon Musk is called to account within 24 hours. “Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that your platform is being used to spread illegal content and disinformation in the EU,” the European commissioner wrote.
He recalls that Twitter must respect the DSA, this European regulation which came into force at the end of August, which attacks disinformation by pushing social networks to quickly remove messages which are reported to them as false by expert organizations. Refusing would expose the platform to a heavy fine, up to 6% of its annual turnover. The commissioner invited Elon Musk to “urgently” ensure that his systems are “effective” and “to inform” Brussels “of the crisis measures that will be taken” but also to contact Europol. “I urge you to provide a rapid, precise and complete response to this request within the next 24 hours,” he ordered. “I remind you that following the potential opening of an investigation and a finding of non-compliance, sanctions may be imposed.”
Elon Musk responded by tweeting a few hours later. “Our policy is that everything is open and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports,” the billionaire said. “Please list the violations you are referring to on X, so that the public can see them,” he added, before concluding with “Thank you very much,” in French.
Thierry Breton’s alert is not the only one. The British Secretary of State for Technology summoned the leaders of social media to ask them to remove from their platforms violent content linked to the Hamas attack on Israel, recalls the “Guardian”. Furthermore, in France, Arcom relayed Thierry Breton’s letter, adding: Arcom is alongside the European Union “to ensure that all platforms respect these obligations and expects an effective commitment from them.” The regulator indicates that it has “exacted with content sharing platforms, which have activated crisis units and strengthened their moderation resources”.
Following the terrorist attacks by Hamas against ????????, we have indications of X/Twitter being used to disseminate illegal content & disinformation in the EU.
Urgent letter to @elonmusk on #DSA obligations ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/avMm1LHq54
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) October 10, 2023
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#Twitter #rise #disinformation #Hamas #attack