New Delhi: The ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militant outfit Hamas has seen a lot of interest and conversation on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), with at least two of the top five trends on Indian X Wednesday relating to the conflict. This comes amid allegations that the social media platform has has been unable to manage misinformation regarding the war.
A European Union commissioner Tuesday warned about the alleged spread of disinformation on X relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict, prompting the platform’s owner Elon Musk to question what content the commissioner was raising an objection to.
According to research and information media outlet Media Matters for America, X “failed spectacularly” in its “first test” amid a global crisis, with misinformation proliferating, as paid, verified accounts allegedly spread misleading videos, a doctored photo, and other misinformation. Additionally, accounts on X impersonated a news outlet and another official entity, and Musk himself endorsed and interacted with accounts that spread misinformation, it alleged.
Despite the allegations, the social media platform continued to draw reactions on the Israel-Hamas war in India, with hashtags including #IsraelPalestineConflict, #HamasMassacre, #Gaza_under_attack, #Israel-Hamas, #PalestineUnderAttack, trending through Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed support for Israel on X following a phone call with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. “…People of India stand firmly with Israel in this difficult hour. India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
I thank Prime Minister @netanyahu for his phone call and providing an update on the ongoing situation. People of India stand firmly with Israel in this difficult hour. India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 10, 2023
During the early hours of Saturday, Hamas, which has been in control of the Gaza strip since 2007, launched an unprecedented aerial and ground terror attack on Israel, with members of Hamas’ military wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades reportedly taking over parts of the southern Israeli towns of Netivot and Ofakim.
In response, Israel launched a large-scale counter-offensive — ‘Swords of Iron’ — with reports suggesting Israeli Air Force fighter jets targeted multiple locations linked to the Palestinian militant outfit.
‘Violent and terrorist content’
In a letter to Musk Tuesday, Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market, highlighted “potentially illegal content” and “violent and terrorist content” circulating on X despite flags from relevant authorities.
Breton, in the letter dated 10 October posted on X, asked Musk to ensure prompt, accurate and complete response to this request within the next 24 hours, while warning that non-compliance may lead to penalties.
The letter mentions that disinformation on the platform includes, fake and manipulated images and facts such as “repurposed old images of unrelated armed conflicts or military footage that actually originated from video games”.
Musk responded early Wednesday, saying, “Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports. Please list the violations you allude to on 𝕏, so that that the public can see them. Merci beaucoup.”
Replying to another post warning about the spread of “illegal content and disinformation” on X, Musk wrote Wednesday, “But what IS this content they’re talking about?”
Later in the day, he again took to X to post, “I still don’t know what they’re talking about!”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: ‘Hamas an evil not even created by devil…no negotiations this time’, says Israel foreign minister