Friend, last weekend the world watched in horror, gripped to the news trying to piece together what was unfolding in Israel after Hamas’ terrorist attack.
On Monday morning before breakfast I met with my senior team and asked the question: “what can we do right now to support people in need, and what can we do in the coming weeks to stop the spread of hate and disinformation?”
The same day, we published this article looking at some practical tips of how to:
- Avoid falling into the trap of spreading misinformation and propaganda.
- Increase your information resilience so that you are making yourself fully informed of what's happening.
- And - crucially - a reminder to practice some self care, and make time to step away from social media.
We hope this article will give you food for thought, and some practical advice about what you can do. In particular - if you have children or teens who use social media, take the time to discuss these points with them, talk to them about what they are seeing, and help contextualise the image and videos they are seeing online.
For the last 10 years whenever there has been a breaking news event many have turned to social media to find the latest breaking news, in particular Twitter/X. That's what Twitter was for - it was the place news broke, where people met around the digital town square to see what was happening.
But it’s broken - Elon Musk broke it. Twitter has become unusable in this crisis.
Disinformation actors, engagement farmers, and grifters with purchased blue ticks have flooded Twitter with fake news, lies, and propaganda. I mean, Elon Musk himself recommended antisemitic accounts to X users for information on the attacks.
Meanwhile millions of young people around the world use video sharing platforms like TikTok and Instagram, putting them right in harm's way of unmoderated digital warfare and propaganda. Never before has the need for regulation and safety by design been more apparent than this week.
Right now, platforms are failing us, and putting responsibility on the users. That shouldn’t be the case. Platforms should be safe by design and put users first. But until then, this article can be a good place to start to help you navigate the torrent of hate and misinformation online. CCDH will continue to put pressure on social media companies to be responsible for the harmful content spread on their platforms, and hold them accountable.
This week has been so difficult. Around the world, we all continue to check in on our friends, colleagues and neighbours who have been impacted by events in Israel and in Gaza, and let them know that we stand with them in their fear and grief. At CCDH we will continue to push for the changes to the online world that we all so desperately need.
Best wishes,
Imran Ahmed
CEO, Center for Countering Digital Hate
