U.S. lawmaker seeks answers from Meta, X, Google, TikTok over
Israel-Hamas false content
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[October 17, 2023]
By Zeba Siddiqui
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Michael Bennet on Tuesday sought
information on how tech giants Meta, X, TikTok and Google were trying to
stop the spread of false and misleading content about the Israel-Hamas
conflict on their platforms.
"Deceptive content has ricocheted across social media sites since the
conflict began, sometimes receiving millions of views," Bennet, a
Democrat, said in the letter addressed to the company chiefs.
Visuals from older conflicts, video game footage, and altered documents
are among misleading content that has flooded social media platforms
since Hamas militants attacked Israeli civilians on Oct. 7.
"In many cases, your platforms’ algorithms have amplified this content,
contributing to a dangerous cycle of outrage, engagement, and
redistribution,” Bennet said.
The Senator's comments come after European Union industry chief Thierry
Breton blasted the companies, demanding they take stricter steps to
battle disinformation amid the escalating conflict.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/17/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_NILA_012823.png)
In his letter, Bennet has posed a series of questions to the companies
seeking details on their content moderation practices and sought answers
by Oct. 31.
The social media firms have outlined some steps they've taken in recent
days in response to the conflict. The short video app TikTok said it had
hired more Arabic and Hebrew-speaking content moderators. Meta, which
owns Facebook and Instagram, said it had removed or marked as disturbing
more than 795,000 pieces of content in Hebrew or Arabic in the first
three days since the Hamas attack. X and Google-owned YouTube both said
they had also taken down harmful content.
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![](../images/101723PIX/news_g11.jpg)
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and other U.S senators unveil
legislation that would allow the Biden administration to "ban or
prohibit" foreign technology products such as the Chinese-owned
video app TikTok during a news conference on Capitol Hill in
Washington, U.S., March 7, 2023. REUTERS/Bonnie Cash/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/17/images/ads/current/lincolnheating_lda_PPP_2023.png)
But Bennet said those actions were not enough.
"The mountain of false content clearly demonstrates that your
current policies and protocols are inadequate," he said in the
letter.
Bennet also slammed the four companies for having laid off staff
from their trust and safety teams in the past year that were in
charge of monitoring for false and misleading content.
Twitter shelved 15% of its trust and safety staff and dissolved a
related council in Nov. 2022 after Elon Musk acquired the company,
cutting more staff last month, Bennet noted. Meta reduced 100
similar positions in January, while Google reduced by a third a team
creating tools to counter online hate speech and disinformation,
Bennet said.
"These decisions contribute to a cascade of violence, paranoia, and
distrust around the world," he said.
"Your platforms are helping produce an information ecosystem in
which basic facts are increasingly in dispute, while untrustworthy
sources are repeatedly designated as authoritative."
(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in San Francisco; Editing by Stephen
Coates)
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