As the bloody war in Gaza rages on, so does a digital struggle for control of the geopolitical narrative surrounding it. Now, a number of prominent pro-Palestine creators and influencers are baffled by a clumsy campaign to get them to support Israel on social media. On Wednesday, Issa Tweimeh, a …
Read More »Verified Accounts on Musk's X Spread 74 Percent of Israel-Hamas War Misinformation
Since Elon Musk‘s takeover of X, formerly Twitter, the company’s dismantlingof content moderation teams, shift to a pay-for-verification model, and the launch of engagement-based revenue sharing have led to a flood of misinformation on the site. This has led to a social media platform struggling to keep up with misinformation …
Read More »Greta Thunberg Was Targeted for an Octopus. Then Israel Chimed In
Two weeks into the horrific war between Israel and Hamas, the state of online discourse has descended from “generally bad and stupid” to “unfathomably dumb and borderline dangerous.” Case in point: recent allegations that environmental activist Greta Thunberg, after posting a “Stand with Gaza” sign and demanding a ceasefire, was …
Read More »MAGA Influencers Tearing Each Other Apart Over Israel-Hamas War
While conventional wisdom has long held that Republicans, and particularly evangelicals, are the staunchest allies of Israel in the U.S., the latest bloody exchanges between the state and Hamas militants have revealed fault lines in that critical base of support. Rather than close ranks to back Israeli attacks on Gaza, …
Read More »Elon Musk's X Tests $1 Annual Fee in Desperate Attempt to Fight Bots, Spam
After Elon Musk recently floated the idea that X, formerly Twitter, could begin charging all users for its service, the company announced that it has started testing a subscription tier for new users in the Philippines and New Zealand. The program, called “Not a Bot,” will cost new users in …
Read More »An AI Nightmare Has Arrived for Twitter — And the FBI
As the school year kicked off in the Spanish town of Almendralejo, teenage girls began to come home telling their parents of disturbing encounters with classmates, some of whom were claiming to have seen naked photos of them. A group of mothers quickly created a WhatsApp group to discuss the …
Read More »Israel Runs Graphic Social Media Ads to Rally Support for Gaza Siege
Winged unicorns dance to a slow lullaby across a pink field of rainbows, cotton candy clouds, and smiling pastel stars. Black text interrupts the scene. “40 INFANTS WERE MURDERED IN ISRAEL BY THE HAMAS TERRORISTS (ISIS). JUST AS YOU WOULD DO EVERYTHING FOR YOUR CHILD. WE WILL DO EVERYTHING TO …
Read More »Israel-Hamas Misinformation Is Rampant. Here's a Guide to What's Out There
The war in Gaza has dominated social media since Hamas attacked Israel last Saturday. There’s been plenty of credible reporting and horrific imagery shared by those on the ground, but the influx of posts has also included one of the most staggering floods of unchecked misinformation in recent memory. X, …
Read More »War Misinfo Is Everywhere. So Twitter Is Cracking Down on … Nudity
X, formerly Twitter, may sound like a porn site, but it’s growing more hostile to adult content. Although currently awash in misinformation and extremist hate speech related to the ongoing war between Israeli armed forces and Hamas militants, the platform is apparently focused on keeping nudity out of users’ feeds …
Read More »'In the Fire' Director Was Blown Away by Amber Heard: 'A Fearless Truth-Teller'
Demonic possession is all the rage in Hollywood. This year alone, we’ve been haunted by Huesera: The Bone Woman, Attachment, Evil Dead Rise, Talk to Me, It Lives Inside, Run Rabbit Run, and The Nun II. Hell, they even rebooted The Exorcist with Ellen Burstyn and cast none other than …
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