Xtremist groups are taking advantage of this lack of regulation
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 5:51 am
On Google’s YouTube, and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, for example, expressions of support for Hamas are banned. In effect, no one affiliated with the group is allowed to use their platforms. TikTok has also said that Hamas is banned from its app. But overall, these measures remain cosmetic. On Telegram, a highly influential messaging platform, content moderation remains very weak , practically nonexistent. It hosts a Hamas channel that openly broadcasts gruesome images and videos of Israelis to more than 120,000 subscribers.
One video, with more than 77,000 views , showed an brazil telegram unidentified activist trampling on the face of a dead soldier. “ There is a lot of worrying hate speech circulating on Telegram. Israeli civil society organizations have denounced the large presence of Israeli far-right Telegram groups, where people incite violence or organize to buy weapons and commit attacks ,” warns Alessandro Accorsi. And the shocking images often originate on Telegram, before finding their way to other social networks.
The phenomenon had already occurred when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. In most cases, the content is not verified beforehand or has been taken out of context to fit the narrative promoted by the person who posted it. Twitter, the network from hell Twitter has become a haven for posts and videos removed by other platforms for violating their rules. It’s a “ toxic dumping ground for hate and misinformation ,” where it’s “a matter of shouting into the void, no matter how baseless the accusations are ” ( Los Angeles Times ), “ a forest of misinformation so dense it’s become extremely difficult to penetrate ” ( The Guardian ), “ an asylum run by its residents ” ( Garbage Day ), run by “ a 52-year-old sorcerer’s apprentice ,” “ a war zone without ethics ” ( New York Times ).
One video, with more than 77,000 views , showed an brazil telegram unidentified activist trampling on the face of a dead soldier. “ There is a lot of worrying hate speech circulating on Telegram. Israeli civil society organizations have denounced the large presence of Israeli far-right Telegram groups, where people incite violence or organize to buy weapons and commit attacks ,” warns Alessandro Accorsi. And the shocking images often originate on Telegram, before finding their way to other social networks.
The phenomenon had already occurred when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. In most cases, the content is not verified beforehand or has been taken out of context to fit the narrative promoted by the person who posted it. Twitter, the network from hell Twitter has become a haven for posts and videos removed by other platforms for violating their rules. It’s a “ toxic dumping ground for hate and misinformation ,” where it’s “a matter of shouting into the void, no matter how baseless the accusations are ” ( Los Angeles Times ), “ a forest of misinformation so dense it’s become extremely difficult to penetrate ” ( The Guardian ), “ an asylum run by its residents ” ( Garbage Day ), run by “ a 52-year-old sorcerer’s apprentice ,” “ a war zone without ethics ” ( New York Times ).