The Israeli Prime Minister's office issued the statement in response to what it referred to as a 'completely false' local television report about US pressure on Israel
world1 week ago
False or misleading claims by billionaire Elon Musk about the US election have amassed 2 billion views on social media platform X this year, according to a report by non-profit group Centre for Countering Digital Hate.
The platform is also playing a central role in enabling the spread of false information about the critical battleground states that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential race, election and misinformation experts said on Monday.
A spokesperson for X said the company's Community Notes feature, which lets users add additional context to posts, is more effective at helping people identify misleading content than traditional warning flags on posts.
Since taking over the company formerly known as Twitter, Musk has curtailed content moderation and laid off thousands of employees. He has thrown his support behind former President Donald Trump, who is locked in an exceptionally close race against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Musk’s massive reach with nearly 203 million followers helps enable “network effects” in which content on X can jump to other social media and messaging platforms such as Reddit and Telegram, said Kathleen Carley, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and expert on disinformation. “X is a conduit from one platform to another,” she said.
At least 87 of Musk's posts this year have promoted claims about the US election that fact-checkers have rated as false or misleading, amassing 2 billion views, according to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate's report.
In Pennsylvania, one of the seven key swing states, some X users have seized on instances of local election administrators flagging incomplete voter registration forms that would not be processed, falsely casting the events as examples of election interference, said Philip Hensley-Robin, Pennsylvania executive director at Common Cause, during a press briefing on Monday.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan organization that promotes accountable government and voting rights.
Some X accounts implied “that there was voter fraud, when in fact, we know very clearly that election officials and election administrators in all of our counties were following the rules and … therefore only eligible voters are voting,” Hensley-Robin said.
Cyabra, a firm that uses AI to detect online disinformation, said on Monday that an X account with 117,000 followers played a key role in helping spread a fake video purporting to show Pennsylvania mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed.
X's spokesperson said the platform took action against many accounts that shared the video.
The Israeli Prime Minister's office issued the statement in response to what it referred to as a 'completely false' local television report about US pressure on Israel
world1 week ago
Israeli President Isaac Herzog termed the United States as a 'true ally'
world1 week ago
'All acts of escalation are condemnable and must stop', said the spokesman for the Secretary-General
world1 week ago
Indian agencies have uncovered a network that sold fake tickets or charged exorbitant prices for legitimate ones for both concerts
world1 week ago
Saturday's attack was one of the deadliest attacks in the area in recent months
world1 week ago
Satellite data from Brazil's space research agency Inpe showed that Bolivia had 70,628 fire hot-spots up until September 22
world1 week ago
According to airport authorities, flight operations will be halted starting 6:00 PM on Thursday
world1 week ago
Airport operations are currently impacted, and passengers should not come to the airport at this time, the spokesperson said
world1 week ago