Video game clips and old videos are flooding social media about Israel and Gaza
One viral video claims to show a Hamas fighter shooting down an Israeli helicopter — but it's a clip from the video game Arma 3. A video purporting to show an Israeli woman being attacked in Gaza was filmed in 2015 in Guatemala. An unverified voice message circulating on WhatsApp, along with the note "forwarded many times," says a military official has instructed Israelis to stock up on cash, fuel and groceries. Fake accounts posing as a BBC journalist and the Jerusalem Post newspaper spread false information widely before being suspended by X (formerly known as Twitter).
In the wake of Hamas' surprise attack on Israel and the escalation into war over the weekend, social media platforms and messaging apps are awash in viral rumors, misleading images and videos, and outright falsehoods, making it hard for people in Israel, Gaza and around the world seeking information and facts about the conflict.
Many online videos are being taken out of context or mischaracterized — a frequent occurrence in breaking news situations where interest is high but verified information is hard to come by.
"Once we saw the events happening, the war started, there was a void of information. No one knew nothing. And [into] this vacuum of information entered all kinds of interest groups, fear, confusion and conspiracies," said Achiya Schatz, executive director of FakeReporter, an Israeli watchdog group that tracks misinformation.
Misleading posts born of fear and confusion are being amplified within a broader online information ecosystem inundated with graphic, violent footage posted by Hamas, Israeli military forces and supporters aligned with both sides.
"The violent content that is being pushed out across a range of different social media platforms as well as as well as encrypted messaging apps is being used to essentially to gloat, celebrate attacks, as well as ... to insinuate war crimes," said Moustafa Ayad, executive director for Africa, the Middle East and Asia at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonprofit that studies extremism.
"This is propaganda 101. You flood the gap, especially in those early hours, with content that suggests a certain narrative, whether it's the strength of one faction over another, whether it's the strength of one state over another, and try to get ahead of the curve," he said.
The fog of war and accompanying surge in unverified information online is fodder for state actors — including those backed by Iran and Russia — and other groups eager to take advantage of the chaos to fuel division, spread propaganda, attack enemies and sow further confusion.
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