US Senator Criticizes Social Media Giants Over Spreading Misinformation Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict

In an outcry against major tech giants, US Senator Michael Bennet has urged Meta, X, TikTok, and Google to address the surge of false content circulating on their platforms concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict. Bennet fiercely critiqued these social media moguls this week, probing into their strategies to curb the dissemination of misleading content and arguing that their current policies are woefully inadequate.

Since the inception of the conflict, misleading content, including visuals from prior conflicts, counterfeit documents, and video game footage, has seen rampant distribution across various social media channels, often amassing millions of views. Bennet stated, "In numerous instances, your platforms' algorithms have helped spike the spread of this deceptive information, thus leading to a harmful cycle of outrage, propagation, and engagement."

The Senator's stern remarks followed a wave of criticism from EU industry chief Thierry Breton, who demanded that these companies adopt more stringent measures to combat the spread of misinformation amid the escalating conflict. To gain a deeper understanding of their content moderation practices, Bennet has directed several questions at these tech giants and requested comprehensive responses by October 31st.

In their defense, the accused social media platforms have proposed some countermeasures they've adopted following the intensification of the conflict. For instance, the popular video app TikTok announced the incorporation of more Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking content moderators. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reported the removal of a staggering 795,000 pieces of disturbing content in Hebrew or Arabic within the first three days of the Hamas attack. Both X and YouTube, operated by Google, confirmed the removal of harmful content.

However, Bennet dismisses these measures as inadequate, emphatically stating, "The mountainous accumulation of fraudulent content lucidly illustrates the inefficacy of your present protocols and policies." Moreover, the senator expressed his disapproval of the tech moguls' decision to layoff numerous employees from their trust and safety teams, responsible for monitoring deceptive content, in the last year.