On April 13, within hours of Iran announcing drone and missile attacks on Israel, false and misleading posts went viral on X almost immediately. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a non-profit think tank, found numerous claims that revealed the attacks and their impact but used artificial intelligence-generated videos, photos and other repurposed footage from the conflict, showing rockets being launched into the night, There were explosions, even with President Joe Biden in military uniform.
According to ISD, just 34 of the misleading posts were viewed more than 37 million times. Many of the accounts posting misinformation are also verified, meaning they pay $X per month for a “blue tick” and their content is amplified by the platform’s algorithm. ISD also found that some of these accounts claimed to be open source intelligence (OSINT) experts, which in recent years has become another way to lend legitimacy to their posts.
One X post claimed that “World War III has officially begun” and included a video that appeared to show a rocket launching at night, but the video was actually from a YouTube video posted in 2021. Another post claimed to show Iron Dome using an Israeli missile defense system, but the video was actually from October 2023. Both posts received hundreds of thousands of views within hours of the attack being announced, and both came from verified accounts. Iranian media also shared video of wildfires in Chile earlier this year, claiming it showed the aftermath of the attack. This incident also began to circulate on X.
“The fact that so much misinformation and disinformation is being spread by accounts seeking influence or financial gain is providing cover for more nefarious actors, including Iranian state media who are passing off footage of Chilean wildfires as being caused by an Iranian attack damage. Israel claims the operation was a military success,” said Isabelle Frances-Wright, director of technology and society at ISD. “The erosion of the information landscape is seriously undermining audiences’ ability to discern truth from fiction.”
As of the time of publication, X had not responded to a request for comment.
While misinformation about conflicts and crises has long found its way onto social media, X is also often used for important real-time information. But under Elon Musk, the company has reduced content moderation and disinformation has become rampant. In the days following the October 7 Hamas attack, X was flooded with disinformation, making it difficult for legitimate OSINT researchers to go public. Under Musk, X popularized crowdsourced community notes as a way to combat misinformation on the platform, with mixed results. Some of the content identified by ISD has since received community notes, but at the time the organization released its findings, only two posts had received community notes.
“This seems to be a recurring pattern on platforms like X during times of crisis, where premium accounts essentially pollute the information ecosystem with half-truths, either through misidentified media or blatantly false images Incidents have arisen due to the actions of an actor or a country,” said Moustafa Ayad, ISD’s executive director for Asia, the Middle East and Africa. “This continues to happen and will continue to happen in the future, making it harder for people to know what is real and what is fake.”
For those who belong to X Subscription model and Advertising revenue sharing modelgoing viral can mean making money.
While it’s unclear whether the users identified by ISD for spreading false or misleading information are monetizing their content, a separate report released earlier this month by the Center to Counter Digital Hate (CCDH) found that between October 7 and 2 During October 7, 10 influencers, including far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle, grew their followings by posting anti-Semitic and Islamophobic content about the conflict. Six accounts checked by CCDH were part of the X subscription plan, and all 10 accounts were verified users. Under the X Advertising Revenue Sharing Program, prominent influencers participating in the X Advertising Revenue Sharing Program will receive a share of advertising revenue based on “organic impressions of ads shown in replies” to their content. company.