Nearly three-fourths (74%) of the most viral posts on X advancing misinformation about the Israel-Hamas War are being pushed by “verified” X accounts, a NewsGuard analysis finds.
During the first week of the conflict (October 7-October 14), NewsGuard’s researchers analyzed the 250 most-engaged posts (likes, reposts, replies, and bookmarks) that promoted one of 10 prominent false or unsubstantiated narratives relating to the war. These claims, determined by NewsGuard research, span a number of political viewpoints on the conflict. They include “Israel has killed 33,000 Palestinian children since 2008,” “A video shows Israeli or Palestinian children in cages,” and “A video shows Hamas fighters celebrating the abduction of an Israeli toddler.”
Collectively, posts advancing the 10 false or unsupported claims received 1,349,979 engagements and cumulatively were viewed more than 100 million times globally in the week after the Hamas attacks. The results revealed that 186 out of these 250 posts—74%—were posted by “verified” accounts on X.
In March 2023, X owner Elon Musk began deleting the old Twitter blue checks—granted to leaders, journalists, experts, and other trustworthies— and began selling them to anybody with 8 bucks-a-month to spend. Those buyers got the blue check next to their name, and the right to have X’s algorithm amplify their posts over others on the platform.
War in the Middle East has thrown the result of that move into sharp relief. “That decision turned out to be a boon for bad actors sharing misinformation about the Israel-Hamas War,” NewsGuard’s Jack Brewster, Sam Howard, and Becca Schimmel said in a statement. “For less than the cost of a movie ticket, they have gained the added credibility associated with the once-prestigious blue check mark and enabling them to reach a larger audience on the platform.”
Twitter’s old dream of serving as a “town square” for public discourse is likely dead. Even before Elon Musk bought the platform and began tweaking the algorithm to put more right-wing, non-woke content into feeds, research showed the site to be a sounding board for only a small number of Americans, for example. A Pew Research study in 2019 showed that only 2% of Americans expressed opinions on Twitter. Another Pew study in 2021 showed that just 25% of Twitter users were responsible for 97% of the content.
The misinformation about the current geopolitical crisis may show that the number and idealogical scope of X’s dominant voices has narrowed even further, and that mis- or disinformation is in no way incompatible with “virality” on X.
Elon Musk himself recommended getting news on the Israel-Hamas conflict from two X accounts known to have dissimenated false information and antisemitic comments. The EU sent Musk a letter warning that X must stop distributing false information about the conflict or face fines or an EU blackout.
NewsGuard sent questions to X about the platform’s vetting of verified users, but received back an automated response which read: “Busy now, please check back later.”
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