Pyrra Report: Israel-Hamas War

On October 7th, 2023, the Palestinian group Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel in the southern Gaza Strip ¹. The next day, Israel officially declared that it is ‘at war’ and retaliated with air strikes and artillery². Individuals in Israel, Gaza and across the globe are seeking answers and information. While traditional news outlets and moderated social media platforms offer a glimpse into what is unfolding in Gaza, alternative-social (alt-social) media websites, such as Telegram, 4chan, Rumble, and Gab, are being heavily used to disseminate propaganda, conspiracy theories, and advance conservative agendas.

‍Propaganda

‍Alt-social media is playing a significant role in the Israel/Gaza conflict given that moderated platforms have banned Hamas-affiliated accounts and support for Hamas³. Instead, these groups rely on Telegram and other alt-social media platforms to distribute press releases and to advance their propaganda efforts. Also, moderated platforms have stringent guidelines on sharing graphic/violent content and provide mechanisms for fact-checking/reporting content.

This fuels propaganda on alt-social media from pro-Israel and pro-Palestine supporters because it provides them with an outlet to share content free from censorship. For example, X’s sensitive media policy prohibits “media depicting excessively gory content,”⁵ and Meta prohibits “organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence” on its platform ⁶. These policies deter users from using moderated platforms and result in a wider dissemination of mis/disinformation and propaganda on alt-social media.

Examples of propaganda from the conflict on alt-social media:

• Hamas-affiliated accounts distribute press releases and statements to thousands of subscribers in various Arabic and English Telegram channels. Among those statements are updates on the Palestinian victim count ⁷, denouncements of U.S. and Western positions ⁸, calls-to-action ⁹, and general updates on the war effort. The spokesman of Hamas's military wing, Abu Ubaida, sent out a statement on his channel saying that Hamas would begin executing civilian hostages for every unannounced attack on Gaza ¹⁰.
• Hamas-affiliated accounts disseminate graphic media, promotional videos, and anti-Israel propaganda in Telegram channels. The group released videos of harmed Palestinian children¹¹ and images of Israeli occupation forces bombing Palestinian homes¹². 
• Popular non-Hamas affiliated channels on Telegram share propaganda and information about the war effort

1. War Monitor shared the uncensored image of dead Palestinian children that was initially shared on Hamas’s channels¹³. 
2. Israel vs Hamas shared footage from Hamas’s attack at the Israeli music festival near the Gaza Strip¹⁴. 
3. Gaza Now shared images of Israel’s bombing efforts¹⁵. 

• A pro-Israel account on Telegram shared an unverified story about Hamas allegedly dissecting a pregnant woman’s body¹⁶(the story was likely taken from a Lebanon massacre in 1982)¹⁷.
• One Israeli journalist has been regularly pushing pro-Israel propaganda, graphic content of harmed Israelis and unverifiable content on Telegram since the start of the war, yet has not posted on his X account since March¹⁸. 
• White supremacist White Rabbit pushes out violent anti-semitic rhetoric and Hamas propaganda on Telegram and Gab¹⁹. 

• Jihadist and ISIS communication channels frequently celebrate Hamas groups as martyrs.²⁰
• Some users are sharing a false viral video of Israeli warplanes bombing the historic Saint Porphyrios Orthodox Church in Gaza to manipulate public opinion and polarize communities.²¹
• Many users share propaganda that compares or links Hamas to ISIS.²²

Conspiracy theories 

Alt-social media sites are also popular outlets for users to circulate conspiracy theories. While this type of content is also distributed on mainstream media, alt-social media plays a crucial role in these campaigns. Rumble and Telegram identify as mediums of free speech and opposition to censorship²³. Similarly, Gab and 4-chan advertise themselves as being unmoderated mediums for free speech²⁴. As a result, users on these forums are encouraged to push conspiracy theories, hateful rhetoric, and misinformation with little to no impunity.

Many users cite Israel’s state-of-the-art intelligence networks and highly trained security forces to indicate Israel and/or U.S. knowledge of the attack²⁵. White supremacist Nicholas Fuentes pushed this narrative on Telegram²⁶. On Rumble, Steve Bannon and Stew Peters question what happened to Israel’s Iron Dome, mention the warning Israel received from Egypt, and highlight Israel’s security apparatus and advanced border security²⁷. In fact, one user commented on Bannon’s video claiming she was censored by YouTube for asking a similar question²⁸. 

Another popular narrative trending suggests that the war is a U.S. funded operation. This is supported by users sharing pictures of U.S. defense stocks surging amid the war. ²⁹

Others argue that the U.S. government has been captured by Zionists. ³⁰

‍Advancing conservative agendas

Another popular trend is conservatives' use of alt-social media to advance U.S. domestic agendas. Many conservative voices believe that mainstream social media platforms have a bias against their viewpoints, censoring or restricting their content. As a result, they prefer the flexibility and lack of moderation across alt-social media.³¹ Conservatives also use alt-social media for community building, which can be used to mobilize and organize for various political or social causes. In some cases, activity on these sites has moved beyond the digital realm. Within alt-social media users, 33% of news consumers say they have participated in an in-person political rally or other political activity they learned about on these sites and 36% have donated money to accounts they follow on these sites. ³²

Currently, some users are attacking Israel’s strict gun control regime, arguing that Israelis were left defenseless.³³

Others are leveraging the border crisis in Gaza to advance the narrative that the U.S. must strengthen and secure the U.S. Southern border to maintain national security. ³⁴

Pyrra’s goal is to make the internet and the world safer by identifying and tracking the users pushing dangerous narratives across the unmoderated corners of the internet where hate and extremism fester. If you or your team need support to monitor the worsening situation in Gaza, email sales@pyrratech.com or reach out to your point of contact for a chat.