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People who have turned to X for breaking news about the Israel-Hamas conflict are being hit with old videos, fake photos, and video game footage at a level researchers have never seen.

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[-] Sabre363@sh.itjust.works 202 points 1 year ago

Maybe it's not a good idea to use a media platform run by a megalomaniac moron as a primary source of news and information.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 87 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

a media platform run by a megalomaniac moron

[-] ours@lemmy.film 20 points 1 year ago

The one with a rocket program. Oh wait...

[-] BloodSlut@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

The one who's a billionaire. Oh wait...

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[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 54 points 1 year ago

It's a great timeline .... 99% of the planet relies on megalomaniac morons, mega corporations, billionaires and for profit media corporations for all their information.

And we wonder why there is so much misinformation, disinformation, non information and covered up information everywhere.

It's definitely the information age .... expect no one said it would actually keep us informed or have any benefit to humanity.

[-] foggy@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's a great timeline .... 99% of the planet relies on megalomaniac morons, mega corporations, billionaires and for profit media corporations for all their information.

Same as it ever was

[-] tryptaminev@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago

A 100 years ago you got your morning paper that can give you a set of tainted views, because you had no chance to independently check, what is going on on the other side of the world. Now you got Fox news and others shoving down the propaganda narrative with a different set of "experts" 24/7.

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[-] pastabatman@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Fair, but this article is talking about primary information from people who are actually there and small local news outlets being drowned out by misinformation. A lot of primary information in 2023 comes from social media which is then investigated and fact checked by larger and more reputable news outlets before being reported.

So yes, the average person who just wants to know what's happening should not be getting that info from social media but reporters often have to. Changes to Twitter since musk took over (specifically paid blue check marks and the removal of titles from links) have made the process of sifting through the misinformation and disinformation exponentially harder, even for people who do it for a living like the researcher in the article.

[-] phx@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago

It's not just TwitX, there's a bunch on Lemmy and Reddit feeds too

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[-] InternetUser2012@midwest.social 133 points 1 year ago

If you're getting your information from facebook, twitter or fox news (to name a few top offenders) you're in for a bad time.

[-] IHawkMike@lemmy.world 47 points 1 year ago

And if a significant enough portion of the people are getting their information from those sources, we're all in for a bad time.

[-] prole@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 year ago

More like: we're all in for a bad time.

Unfortunately, their inability to discern fantasy from reality does not only affect them.

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[-] Pofski@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 year ago

I think another big issue is that there are a lot of news outlets that get their info from those three sources.

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[-] ViewSonik@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago

X is a far-right nazi sympathizing website. Advertisers should have pulled their products a year ago

[-] kool_newt@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

Assume companies that advertise on Xitter to be NAZI sympathizers.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Xitler the X is pronounced like "sh"

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[-] Nalivai@discuss.tchncs.de 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People who have turned to X for breaking news

Maybe they shouldn't

[-] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

One of the few benefits that Twitter used to have was how useful it was for breaking news and events.

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[-] moldyringwald@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

At this point the Onion has more accurate news than X

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[-] Pratai@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 year ago

In fairness… People who turn to twitter for news aren’t the type of people that generally like to be informed by reality.

[-] menemen@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It certainly became worse, but it's not like it was good before him.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 20 points 1 year ago

Stay away from that echo chamber

[-] krolden@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago

Stay away from that echo chamber

[-] ohlaph@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Stay away from that echo chamber

[-] Dremor@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Stay away from that echo chamber

[-] stefenauris@pawb.social 18 points 1 year ago

I disagree with the headline, the war is not causing disinformation. Its bad faith users posting disinformation and ~~X's ~~ (nope still calling it Twitter) policies that not only let it happen but encourage it.

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[-] hesusingthespiritbomb@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Honestly I blame the news orgs for this.

There are a ton of videos floating around that ARE credible. They simply aren't getting reported on in a meaningful way. If they do get mentioned, it's often in an extremely watered down manner that almost feels intentionally misleading.

You also have videos that are 100 percent verifiable (or the protest videos) that are only being reported on by a few organizations, often leaving out important context.

If the mainstream media refuses to truly engage in the situation, then people will turn to dubious sources.

[-] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I mean, that's just the other side of the same coin. They need good info to dig through, and they need to actually dig. Both are required for actual journalism, and both don't work under capitalism. There's too much money in lies, and it's expensive to fight them in the first place.

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[-] c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

If you went to Twitter pre-Musk for your news you're still a moron.

[-] Pxtl@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago

It was the social media of choice for journalists. It was an excellent place to get your news as long as you followed the right people (reputable, credible professionals).

Now many of those right people have left and they're far more difficult to distinguish from the wrong people.

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[-] scytale@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

Imagine clicking on a video thinking it’s footage of current events and it’s from a game.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 1 year ago

Imagine not being at all media-savvy and buying into it. MAGA types are idiot shitheads who are completely driven by their emotions. There’s no higher function.

[-] sweetchildintime@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Oh no, please tell me this isn't true. Surely the well balanced and entirely rational Mr. Musk wouldn't let this happen?

[-] Fizz@lemmy.nz 6 points 1 year ago

Who are these articles for because everyone I know has always had the opinion that Twitter is full of dumb takes and misinfo

[-] ripcord@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

Millions and millions of people who are still using it as their primary info source.

Good that you apparently don't know any of them, but the number of people who actually stopped using TwitX or use it less appears to be shockingly small.

[-] Fizz@lemmy.nz 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah unfortunately my friends use tiktok as their primary source so I can't give them to much credit.

[-] ripcord@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

That seems...significantly worse.

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this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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