Exposed: Israel’s Multi-Million Dollar Propaganda Campaign to Shape Western Opinion on Gaza Conflict
The Israeli government has reportedly spent millions of dollars on social media propaganda ads targeting Western nations. According to a data analysis carried out by Politico, the Israeli government launched a vast propaganda campaign strategically aimed at Western nations, in a concentrated effort to shape international public opinion as it continues to wage a brutal war on the besieged Gaza Strip[1]. The campaign is being executed across several platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, and involves the dissemination of emotionally charged and graphic advertisements. Journalist Sophia Smith, in a thread on Twitter, noted that the Israeli government spent close to $7.1 million solely on YouTube ads. Notably, a sum of $1.1 million was allocated to targeting the United Kingdom alone[1].
The Israeli government’s attempt to win the online information war is part of a growing trend of governments around the world moving aggressively online in order to shape their image, especially during times of crisis. PR campaigns in and around wars are nothing new. But paying for online advertising targeted at specific countries and demographics is now one of governments’ main tools to get their messages in front of more eyeballs[4].
However, the spread of misinformation and propaganda related to the Israel-Gaza conflict on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok has made it difficult for people to discern fact from fiction and can shape how people view the conflict[1][2][3][5][6]. Some of the misinformation includes fake videos and images that are years old or taken from other conflict zones. The rise in AI is making it worse, and the trust in traditional news sources has declined[2][3]. False or misleading videos have gone viral faster than fact-checkers can debunk them or the platforms can remove them in keeping with company policies[2].
The Israeli government’s propaganda campaign has been criticized for containing brutal and emotional imagery of the deadly militant violence in Israel. Some of the ads contain gruesome imagery or graphic depictions of physical trauma, which violates Google’s stringent policies against the promotion of ads containing violent language, gruesome imagery, or graphic depictions of physical trauma. Despite this, a continuous cycle of uploading and activation of such graphic ads was observed. One recurring ad, for example, disturbingly claimed to depict the autopsy of an Israeli child burned alive. The campaigns unambiguously labelled Hamas as a “vicious terrorist” [1].
The major social media platforms, once heralded for their ability to document global events in real-time, face a crisis of authenticity, one of their own making, critics say. The war between Israel and Hamas has spawned so much false or misleading information online, much of it intentional, though not all, that it has obscured what is actually happening on the ground. In any war, discerning fact from fiction (or propaganda) can be exceedingly difficult. The antagonists seek to control access to information from the front. No one person can have more than a soda-straw view at any one moment[2].
The spread of misinformation and propaganda can make it difficult for people to discern fact from fiction and can shape how people view the conflict. When war goes online, the churn of good and bad information is supercharged by the stakes. While state-sponsored information wars existed well before the invention of the internet, social media has enabled all kinds of propaganda and dangerous falsehoods to rapidly reach millions. This is particularly true on Twitter, which was once a central destination for those who wanted to follow major news events in real-time[3].
In conclusion, the Israeli government has reportedly spent millions of dollars on social media propaganda ads targeting Western nations. The propaganda campaign is being executed across several platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, and involves the dissemination of emotionally charged and graphic advertisements. However, the spread of misinformation and propaganda related to the Israel-Gaza conflict on social media platforms has made it difficult for people to discern fact from fiction and can shape how people view the conflict. False or misleading videos have gone viral faster than fact-checkers can debunk them or the platforms can remove them in keeping with company policies.
Citations:
[1] https://dohanews.co/israel-spending-millions-on-social-media-propaganda-ads-targeting-western-nations/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/business/israel-hamas-misinformation-social-media-x.html
[3] https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/10/12/23913472/misinformation-israel-hamas-war-social-media-literacy-palestine
[4] https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-social-media-opinion-hamas-war/
[5] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/14/propaganda-misinformation-israel-hamas-war-social-media/
[6] https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2023/hamas-israel-social-media-propaganda/
US Imperialism | #66 Homeless Romantic Podcast
A Conversation about Communism | Professor Jodi Dean Ph.D. | #177 HR
Christine Sypnowich | The Truth About Marxism | #113 HR
John Waters | Legendary Film Maker
Bill Ayers | Anarchism & Socialism | Weathermen Underground | #98 HR
A Conversation with Cory Doctorow | Author, Journalist & Activist #155 HR
https://linktr.ee/ChrisJeffries
The Homeless Romantic Podcast
https://chris-jeffries.com
DONATE TO US!
https://patreon.com/thehomelessromantic
MUSIC INTRO by @JustinLepard
Justin Lepard Psychedelic Cello
