Goldenberg advises users critically evaluate information, especially before sharing it, and compare it to multiple reputable sources. “We still look at social media as a place to get information - it’s not.”įor those who continue looking to social media platforms for information, it can be challenging to decipher where it’s coming from. “It is a way of being duped by an algorithm whose job it is to keep you addicted, and that is the fundamental issue,” he said. Social media should be seen as a form of entertainment and not as a tool to “find out what people are thinking,” Ahmed said. The spread of misinformation, Ahmed argues, is made worse by the “fact that these platforms don’t enforce their own rules on social media.” What can social media users do? The blue checkmark, or verified badge, means that the X account has an active paid premium subscription, but it does not undergo a review previously used by Twitter to verify the account’s authenticity. But watchdog groups say misinformation abounds. X, formerly known as Twitter, says it is trying to take action on hateful and graphic posts about the Israel-Hamas war. It takes time to establish what exactly is happening, but social media is a unfiltered channel where people can easily self-publish lies and nonsense, he said.īusiness X promises ‘highest level’ response on posts about Israel-Hamas war. This is a moment when people are turning to social media for information because they’re trying to work out what’s going on “in an information-poor environment,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Does disinformation vary on different platforms?ĭisinformation is pervasive across all major social media platforms, experts said. “The spread of this false information erodes public trust in institutions and makes it more challenging for people to discern fact or fiction, which is obviously crucial in maintaining a well-informed citizenry,” he said. Police are committed to keeping the community safe, Gallagher said, but disinformation “undermines public safety efforts.”īeyond confusion and anxiety, disinformation can lead to public panic, harm reputations and in some cases even incite violence, Goldenberg said. It has become a reminder of how deeply polarizing the war is.Īllison Gallagher, a Long Beach police spokesperson, said the acts of “terror and violence in the Middle East create fear and anxiety here in our community.” Two Israeli street artists in New York started the project to call attention to those taken hostage. World & Nation ‘Kidnapped from Israel,’ artists’ posters say. “In such turbulent times, like the one we’re experiencing now, misinformation and disinformation can spread like wildfire and in turn further fueling tension and widespread misinformation,” Goldenberg said. With multiple denials from police and federal authorities, why did many on social media continue to spread the idea that the crash was a terrorist attack?ĭisinformation tends to proliferate more rapidly during times of conflict or war, “simply because emotions run high and people are more likely to share information that aligns with their beliefs, often without verifying it,” said Alex Goldenberg, lead intelligence analyst for Network Contagion Research Institute. The FBI responded to the crash “due to the suspicious circumstances of the incident and current international events,” according to the Police Department. On Thursday, after the murder charge was added against Yagobbi, a Long Beach police spokesperson again told The Times there was no evidence that suggests a link to terrorism. Laura Loomer, who for years has boosted outlandish conspiracy theories to her hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, now X, pushed the theory that the crash was an act of Islamic terrorism, claiming unnamed “sources” told her that police were under a gag order.Ĭalifornia What caused speeding BMW to crash, killing 4 Pepperdine students? Dueling claims amid murder chargesįraser Michael Bohm, 22, faces four counts of malice murder and four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter in the Oct. 14 crash, which led to a murder charge against the driver, was taken up by conspiracy theorists, right-wing extremists and others on social media, whose rampant speculation was quickly shot down by police.ĭays after the crash, out-of-state groups including the Arizona Border Defenders, which is similar to those that have been characterized by the Anti-Defamation League as part of an extreme anti-immigration movement, posted on Facebook questioning why the FBI was at the scene if authorities were saying it wasn’t a terrorist attack. After a car barreled through a red light in Long Beach this month and plowed into several pedestrians in a crosswalk, killing one, it did not take long for rumors of a terrorist attack to spread in some corners of the internet.Īgainst the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, the Oct.
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