HUNDREDS OF HAMAS-AFFILIATED ACCOUNTS REMOVED FROM X

Thu 12 October 2023:

Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has removed hundreds of “Hamas-affiliated accounts” and taken action to remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content since the attacks.

“We continue to respond promptly to law enforcement requests from around the world, including EU member states,” CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino, she said in a letter to the EU commissioner.

X’s safety account said late Monday that posts from daily active users in Israel have increased since Hamas launched a surprise attack on the country over the weekend. Users have also shared more than 50 million posts related to the attack, X said. Some of the posts mischaracterized video or showed graphic footage and have driven the spread of misinformation on X and elsewhere across the internet.

Under its “Violent and Hateful Entities Policy,” X said it will remove newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts and take other steps to stem the proliferation what it referred to as terrorist content on the platform. Those actions include addressing and removing certain posts that include graphic media as well as violent and hate speech.

X also said it is monitoring the platform for antisemitic speech. It added that it is coordinating with other social media platforms to stem the spread of terrorist content across the internet through the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).

“In this rapidly evolving situation, we continue to work with our members to identify and follow trends in content and activity online related to terrorist and violent extremist actors involved in the offline violence,” GIFCT said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. “This includes the possibility that a range of terrorist and violent extremist networks and groups may seek to exploit the conflict for their own purposes, as we have seen in past events.”

Some of the posts under scrutiny and that violate X policies include old video footage falsely alleging to show images from Hamas’ current attack. X flagged such posts as containing media being “presented out of context.”

Hate speech jumped on the the service after X owner Elon Musk laid off content moderators, studies have shown.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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