[The Editors' Verdict]SNS: The New Frontline in the Israel-Hamas War

As the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas has surpassed one month, the battleground heating up as fiercely as the actual war zone is the social networking service (SNS) arena. Since the outbreak of the war, over 40,000 accounts have already been created on SNS, and these accounts are dropping fake news like airstrike bombs online, mainly to support claims favorable to Hamas.

The fake news photo that spread on the social networking service (SNS) X (formerly Twitter) on the 17th (local time). It was promoted as an image of a child who died in the Israeli military's bombing of the Gaza Strip, but it was revealed to be a fake photo created by generative artificial intelligence (AI). [Image source=X]

In particular, with the advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology, it has become very easy to produce news, photos, and videos whose authenticity is difficult to verify, leading to a flood of all kinds of fake news. According to The New York Times (NYT), sensational photos and videos such as child massacres and prisoner abuse, as well as false information depicting the capture of key enemy commanders or generals, or cities that have not yet fallen as if they have been captured, are increasing, causing greater confusion among refugees.

Accordingly, following Telegram’s recent shutdown of Hamas’s official account, the European Union (EU) has also rapidly expanded efforts to regulate fake news on SNS, including requesting X (formerly Twitter), led by Elon Musk, to close accounts spreading fake news.

During the “Arab Spring” social movement, which began in North Africa in 2010 and toppled major Middle Eastern dictatorships like dominoes, SNS served as the foundation for social revolution. At that time, SNS acted as a distribution channel for government-critical news that was censored by authoritarian regimes in each country, but now it has completely lost its positive function and has been transformed into a major conduit for fake news.

The Islamic State (IS), a warlord organization that rapidly spread in Syria and Iraq amid civil war conditions in 2014, also expanded its influence quickly through SNS fake news. IS mainly incited teenage youths from Middle Eastern immigrant families facing racial and religious discrimination in Europe with fake news and videos, recruiting them as members and using them as soldiers, informants, and terrorists, shocking the international community.

Hamas’s fake news is evaluated to be more sophisticated than that of IS. They target not only residents of the Middle East but also Middle Eastern countries hostile to Israel and armed groups hesitant to intervene in the war, creating various fake news. Recently, they have posted a large number of fake news reports claiming that Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have never declared war involvement, participated in the war, raising concerns about escalation.

Especially next year is called the “year of elections” worldwide, with major countries holding elections one after another. There is the Taiwan presidential election in January, the Russian presidential election in March, South Korea’s general election in April, and the U.S. presidential election in November. There is growing concern that various SNS fake news will also emerge from countries like North Korea, China, and Russia, which have large-scale units specialized in cyber warfare, not just Hamas.

Although the threat of fake news on SNS is approaching rapidly, South Korea’s response measures are currently adrift amid political conflicts between ruling and opposition parties. Even now, this issue should be recognized not as a mere political dispute but as a serious matter that could deal a fatal blow to national security, and bipartisan efforts should be undertaken.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.