Israel's Hospital Bombing In Gaza: Problem With X's "Readers Added Context" Feature
According to Elon Musk owned X (formerly Twitter), its Community Notes feature (what you normally see as ‘Readers Added Context’) on the posts “aim to create a better-informed world by empowering people on X to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts”. Contributor, according to X, may leave notes on any post and if enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful, the note will be publicly shown on a post.
Community Notes are now publicly visible and X has included responses to frequently asked questions below the community notes.
According to X, the process is open and transparent and a post with a Community Note will not be labeled, removed, or addressed by X unless it is found to be violating the X Rules, Terms of Service, or our Privacy Policy.
However, as the war is escalating in West Asia between the Hamas and Israel, this feature, somehow, gives way for propaganda. The image attached in this story is one such case (unless the said parties remove their posts or X changes the nature of the post).
⭕ LIVE: Israeli air attacks have killed hundreds of Palestinians in al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City where thousands are seeking medical treatment and shelter from heavy bombardment. https://t.co/w1rEnOjrRJ
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 17, 2023
The post in question is a live-cut video lasting more than 11 hours from the West Asia-based broadcaster Al Jazeera. The live reporting on the English news channel stated that Israeli air attacks had killed hundreds of Palestinians in al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, where thousands sought medical treatment and shelter from heavy bombardment. Since the attack in Central Gaza, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, various media outlets, and countries have accused Israel of breaking Geneva Convention rules and committing war crimes in Gaza.
In response to this, Israel attributed the explosion to a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group, although the PIJ has denied the allegation.
Like in any other war, Israel’s military is also on the forefront of propagating their country’s side – that is, the attack was caused by a misfired rocket from within Gaza.
But, this version of Israeli Defence Forces or IDF is given as Community Note on the said Al Jazeera live-cut video.
This raises questions on the credibility of the X feature that has been designed to help “to create a better-informed world by empowering people,” especially when the context added by the X is being used as fact check. According to experts, the military version of affairs during war can’t be the source of fact check, but most times, they are propaganda.
