Wars undergo evolution. In the past, they were made with stones and swords, then explosives, planes and missiles came in. Today, war attacks us almost everywhere - not only on the battlefield or underground tunnels, but also on the home front, on our mobile phones.
"On October 7, Hamas terrorists stormed us with phones, charged batteries and chest cameras," explains Achiya Schatz, executive director of the independent investigative project Fake Reporter. "Within minutes, sometimes even live, they immediately spread their propaganda to every possible platform on the Internet. This attack surprised us not only on the ground but also in the networks."
"The source of the information must be checked", Schatz, photo: None
In any case, the situation has not improved much since then, because the Israelis have begun to bombard the virtual arena with a lot of vital information about the war, but also with quantities of false and misinformation whose dissemination has only caused damage, chaos and anxiety.
According to Fake Reporter, of the 309 viral cases suspected of being fake news, 205 were testable – of which 50.2% were completely refuted and proven to be disinformation (deliberate deception) or misinformation (bona fide error).
Israeli Arabs at the Hotline
The various fakes were divided into sub-topics, with the popular category being "public fear and panic following the events." This gave rise to 34 different pikes. The most memorable was a wave of social media posts about Arab citizens taking pictures of homes. Posts from Holon and Petach Tikva to Ninet Taib expressed concern about the spreading phenomenon: "They play it and clean the building, but photograph and scan the area." The police investigated, ruled out hostile terrorist activity and asked the public to stop creating panic. By the way, about 55% of all the panic-provoking fakes pointed to the involvement of Arab citizens of Israel.
"Playing it clean", panic post, photo: none
And who "betrayed from within"?
Other categories, in descending order, that gained momentum were those that reinforced the "betrayal from within" propaganda, aspects of the world's perception of war, false information about the abductees, the government, the IDF, the Hamas attack or denial of the massacre.
The "betrayal from within" fake was the first to spread online. Hours after the war began, web surfers – including influencers such as Maor Buzaglo and Guy Hochman – posted about the possibility that Hamas had received assistance from Israeli elements to carry out the massacre. Who were marked? Most of them are leftists and protest activists (53.6%), as well as security forces (28.6%) and media personnel (14.3%). In the end, the "traitor with the blue shirt" turned out to be a hero who fell in defense of the homeland.
Pikes about power were also - and a lot. 45.5% criticized government bodies, 27.3% spread fake news about Prime Minister Netanyahu, and 18.2% dealt with nepotism of public officials: for example, rumors circulated that Esther Hayut sent Yair Golan to rescue her son from the party in Nova, and Miri Regev's daughter fled the party because of a "warning."
"The Traitor" turned out to be a hero, photo: None
Pikes about abductees were also plentiful, with the most common claiming that the soldier rescued from captivity, Uri Magidish, was not kidnapped at all because she published a Facebook post during her captivity. The source of the error: Someone with the same name posted it, but that's how false rumors always start.
"War in every respect"
"The fact that the most pike is attributed to issues of panic and fear indicates a fracture in people's sense of security," Schatz analyzes. "Once the concept has fallen, it is easier to insert the conspiracy in its place in order to create a new narrative. It is a war arena in every respect: it affects the fighting, the fighters, the home front, and the ability to bear the war in the world. In the end, on 7 October, the decisions were made here based on misinformation, and we saw what happened.
Soldier Uri Magidish and the President of Israel, Photo: Avi Kanner
"What should we do? When you encounter sensational information on social networks - it is worth stopping, reading again and checking the information or profile that distributed it. It's best to stick to the mainstream media or fact-checking channels. The State of Israel must consider the digital dimension as a war zone and plan how to protect Israel and its citizens in times of emergency even in routine times."
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