Disinformation - Hamas-Israel War

Key Findings:

Cyabra analyzed social media conversations about the Hamas-Israel war and analyzed the authenticity of profiles spreading fake news and propaganda. Cyabra uncovered that 25% of the profiles in the discourse were fake and were part of a coordinated influence operation campaign, led by a bot network in order to positively influence global opinion regarding Hamas. 

Cyabra scanned related phrases and hashtags on various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok). Cyabra found over 490,000 profiles participating in the discourse and spreading more than 734,000 posts and comments on social media. 

Cyabra scanned 162,000 profiles that participated in the conversation and conducted an authenticity analysis. The analysis was also aimed to identify coordinated activity and attempts to manipulate public opinion. 25% of the scanned profiles were fake (40,695 profiles in total). The fake profiles were attempting to dominate the conversation, spreading over 312,000 posts and comments within the span of two days. 

Cyabra analyzed content posted by the fake profiles in the conversation, and measured their interactions and potential influence. The content created by the fake profiles received over 371,000 engagements, and reached the potential eyes of over 531,000,000 profiles in just two days. Cyabra detected thousands of posts and comments showcasing images and videos of IDF soldiers and civilians in captivity in Gaza. These profiles claimed that there were dozens of Israelis in Gaza, implying that a future release of prisoners from Israeli jails might be part of ongoing negotiations. The content spreading the claim that a substantial number of terrorists might be released from Israeli prisons back to Gaza received over 230,000,000 potential views. 

Cyabra identified over 10,000 posts and comments referencing Al Aqsa, 7% of them detected as inauthentic. Some posts claimed IDF soldiers attacked Israeli Arabs who were praying in the mosque, and asserted the legitimacy of Hamas's actions against Israel based on the images and videos they shared. The content from the fake profiles mentioning Al Aqsa reached 7,686,000 potential views. 

Cyabra identified the inauthentic Twitter profile @RebelTaha, created in March 2022. The profile posted 616 tweets in the first two days after the attack on Israel started. At its peak action, the posts were published every few minutes. The posts contained propaganda promoting Gaza and Palestine. The profile also used hashtags supporting Israel to reach a larger audience. The posts were trending over the past two days, reaching a potential of over 170,000 views in total. The profile compared Gaza to Ukraine, suggesting that while Gaza's actions are often labeled as terrorism, they actually resemble Ukraine's actions, which are seen by the world as self-defense.