Israel-Hamas war: The importance of high-quality journalism and preventing the spreading of fake news on social media

On 7^th October 2023 Hamas, the group ruling the Gaza strip however known to Israel, the UK, the US, the European Union and others as a terrorist organization, attacked Israel. In response to Hamas’ killing of more than 1,400 people in Israel and taking more than 200 hostages, Israel declared war on Hamas. Since then, more than 10,300 people have been killed, including more than 4,100 children, in Gaza. BBC News have shared the following map of Israel which helps to geographically explain the war.

Since the attack, social media has been flooded with misinformation. Misinformation is when inaccurate information is mistakenly spread. This differs to disinformation, which is defined as deliberately spreading fake news. At best, misinformation leaves people uninformed and at worst it can cost people their lives.

X, formerly known as Twitter, arguably the home of social media’s politics, has long been known for its spreading of misinformation and disinformation. Therefore, it’s no surprise that fake news has been circulating on the social media platform about the Israel-Hamas war. A famous example of this includes an X post of a US document showing the US giving $8 billion in aid to Israel. It has since been corrected from multiple sources, including The White House itself, who say this was in fact a doctored image that had previously announced $400 million in aid to Ukraine by the US.

Although research by NewsGuard found that verified (blue-check) X accounts made up 74% of the most viral fake Israel-Hamas information, hundreds of other sites have played a part. For instance, a post on Facebook showed The Israel Defense Force (IDF) admitting that it “decided to bomb” a hospital in Gaza. This was not the IDF’s genuine account. I find it hard to believe that someone could accidently create a Facebook account called Israel Defense Force and then post saying they (IDF) had decided to bomb a hospital in Gaza. Therefore, it is likely that this is an example of disinformation.

Despite the BBC being the largest and most trustworthy broadcaster in the UK there have been some concerns over their reporting of the Israel-Hamas war, specifically being biased. The BBC have faced criticisms for being biased both for and against Israel and for and against Palestinians. This includes a post on X stating people in Israel had been ‘killed’ and people in Gaza had ‘died’. Killing and died, Hamas and Palestine, militant and terrorist, ruling and governing. These words are used interchangeably yet have very different meanings and implications. As a result, when published they can spread misinformation. Furthermore, Deborah Turness, CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, states that the BBC had misleadingly described Pro-Palestinian protests as ‘demonstrations…during which people voiced their backing for Hamas’. As a matter of fact, very few Palestinians support Hamas. Whether intended to or not this piece of journalism has the harmful effects of stirring hatred and dividing society by setting groups against each other.

This and other pieces of poor journalism may be linked to the unprecedented increase in hate speech and crime towards Muslim and Jewish communities following the events in the Middle East. Other effects that misinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict can have include increasing tensions between countries and thus making a world war more likely. There are also links to conspiracy theories because people behind the spreading of disinformation will likely benefit in one way or another. They may ‘just’ enjoy seeing society become increasingly fragmented or they may have greater aims. For example, in an article recently published by The Guardian, Russia was mentioned as capitalizing on the disinformation on X.

I hope that by showing the gravity of the situation, that is the effects of fake news in regards to the Israel-Hamas War, I have promoted the need for accurate and unbiased journalism. Although there are numerous campaigns and organisations, such as Full Fact, trying to combat the spread of misinformation and others trying to increase political and media literacy, such as Shout Out UK, I think it’s clear that there is still increasing levels of misinformation and disinformation online on social media. Unfortunately, when it is weaponized, AI massively perpetuates this spreading of misinformation as pictures and videos can seem exceptionally plausible.

Due to the sheer numbers using social media from all over the world some incorrect information probably is inevitable. As a result, we need high quality, accurate and unbiased journalism and we must all be educated in spotting fake news. We all have a part to play in stopping the spread of misinformation and disinformation online. Large companies must be held accountable for their spreading of false information through their online platforms; they must take steps to 1) reduce the chances of this happening and 2) dealing with it if it does. For example, in response to complaints mentioned earlier, the BBC are putting in place ‘additional safeguards’ including how they attribute claims (for instance they would now write ‘X claims hundreds killed’ instead of ‘Hundreds killed, X claims’) and describe sources. Misinformation and disinformation undermine our democracy and pose a risk to people’s lives, often the most vulnerable people or those belonging to minority groups. We must take steps to prevent this: misinformation has no place in our society. 

DISCLAIMER: The articles on our website are not endorsed by, or the opinions of Actively Political, but exclusively the views of the author.

Ella is the founder of Actively Political. She campaigns, volunteers and fundraises locally and nationally for various political and social action groups and charities. Her interests within politics include youth political participation, democracy, political communication and international relations and politics.