On social media, misinformation regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict is spreading like wildfire. Online news portals use it to attract readers and generate traffic to their websites, and unfortunately, major news outlets compete for readers and viewers without verifying the source.
On the ground, civilians in Palestine, Gaza, and Israel are paying a terrible price for misinformation. It instills fear and loathing. However, this is frequent during wars and conflicts, as seen in Russia, Ukraine, and Yemen.
Misinformation is spread by some governments and special interests in order to push their own propaganda. They take advantage of people's emotions and dread. Vraga stated that propaganda and disinformation have always been a component of conflict. "We need to be really careful when we're on social media, and to think about where the information is coming from and who stands to gain from it."
It is critical to evaluate whether the information is reliable before spreading it or allowing it to influence our ideas about a subject.