In between the Russians invading Ukraine 18 months ago and the Hamas attack in Israel marking another start of the Palestine conflict, social media is going through its different phases. The plethora of changes that the social media sphere has gone through is mindblowing.
Between these two events, the EU has already shot a few warnings to the CEO of X-Twitter & TikTok regarding misinformation, which is spreading hate towards either of the countries in the scenario. (Source)
Social media have always been the first to be accused when it comes to the content it offers. The European Union had a lot to talk about regarding the lack of auditing when it comes to the thousands of pro-war content that is affecting young, impressionable children.
Since children between the ages of 13 and 18 are the primary users of social media, the changing content dynamic right after the two invasions is certainly just another negative impact of war.
Linda Yaccrano, the CEO of X, has not taken any particular side. Rather, they have spoken about how their team is trying to ban and flag pro-war content, which is instigating hate among people amidst the Israel-Palestine conflict.
However, Google, which owns YouTube, has a very radical standpoint when it comes to the Israel-Palestine situation. For them, Hamas is a terrorist association that is creating violent conflict between the two countries. This has made Google to flag any content regarding Hamas. No matter how small or small the account is, no content can go up with the name.
Every person associated with content moderation in these social media platforms is getting difficult by the hour. In a war, making everything black and white is indeed a challenge. One cannot pick a side in war and call the other wrong.
This is making social media a confusing broth of all kinds of content during these pressing times. It is difficult to disagree between which content is promoting war between the Israel and Palestine conflict and which is simply passing news for the rest of the world to know.
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