military at heart of social media fake news scandal

military at heart of social media fake news scandal

The Israeli daily Ha’aretz reveals that the army has used fake accounts on social networks to influence or seduce public opinion. The facts date back to May 2021, during the war in Gaza. The Israeli army had already been pinned during this same period, for having lied to foreign media, in order to serve its strategic interests.

With our correspondent in Jerusalem, Sami Boukhelifa

In May 2021, during the war in Gaza, the Israeli army deliberately spread false information. Several foreign media relay it. We then speak of a ground incursion of Israeli troops into Gaza “. This infox was intended to force Hamas fighters to take refuge in “tunnels” in the Palestinian enclave, to bombard them in stride.

Gaza was effectively crushed under a carpet of bombs, but the Israeli maneuver failed. Because the leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian armed group in power in Gaza, quickly understood the deception.

Online manipulation

This attempt to manipulate the foreign press undermined the image and credibility of the Israeli army “, writes the daily Ha’aretz. The army admitted its mistake, and apologized. But at the same time, the army continued to wage an information war, in the shadows. This time, directed against its own population.

His goal: to promote his achievements to the Israeli public. All this through publications shared by fake accounts on social networks. Pinned once again, the army recognizes, again, an error.

► Read also : How Israel established itself as a ‘cyberpower’

rf-5-general