X has been slower to act on the misinformation that's swamped the platform after Elon Musk cut hundreds of trust and safety workers
- Questions have emerged about how quickly X is working to address misinformation on the platform.
- False and misleading posts remain on the site, and many don't have Community Notes attached.
X appears to be on the back foot in efforts to combat the posts spreading misinformation about the Israel-Gaza war.
Since Hamas militants launched a surprise attack Saturday from the Gaza Strip into Israel by paragliders, boats, and other vehicles, posts sharing false and misleading information continue to circulate on the platform.
One video, still making the rounds on X at the time of writing, shows children in cages and has been shared by multiple accounts.
"Israeli kids being held in cages by Hamas Terrorists," a caption on the video, viewed more than 359,000 times, said. The post did not have a Community Note underneath at the time of writing to clarify that the video was not recent, nor did two other posts that shared the video.
A YouTube link posted by another user showed the video dated back to at least 2020, although the streaming platform has since removed that link for violating its community guidelines.
BBC Verify journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh, who reports on misinformation, debunked several misleading posts on X, which have since been appended with Community Notes to clarify they are inaccurate.
One account, which has since been suspended, shared a video of people paragliding and claimed in the caption that it was Hamas militants entering Israel. However, Sardarizadeh found that it was filmed in Egypt and posted on TikTok last month and posted more than 10 examples of misinformation found on X.
"I've been fact-checking on Twitter for years, and there's always plenty of misinformation during major events. But the deluge of false posts in the last two days, many boosted via Twitter Blue, is something else," Sardarizadeh posted on X. "Neither fact-checkers nor Community Notes can keep up with this."
One user even went as far as sharing footage from video game Arma 3 and tried to dupe others into believing it was a video of Hamas militants launching an air assault on Israel. Another posted photos of a fireworks display in Algeria and claimed it was Israel striking Hamas.
Another video shared on X Sunday shows a man with a baby alongside a caption that said it's a "Hamas terrorist with a kidnapped Jewish baby girl in Gaza." The post now has a Community Note that says the video was posted a month before the attack on Saturday, but it still remains on the platform.
Ben Goggin, deputy tech editor at NBC News, said Monday that he reviewed 120 posts on X that shared fake news.
"Only 8% had community notes, 26% had unpublished notes, and 66% had neither," he wrote.
Elon Musk laid off between five and 10 trust and safety workers in September, Insider's Kali Hays reported last month, after he cut hundreds of employees working in that department when he took over X, previously known as Twitter.
Prior to Musk's takeover, there were around 230 people in the trust and safety team working on content moderation. One person familiar with the matter told Kali Hays there are currently about 20 full-time employees on the trust and safety team.
CEO Linda Yaccarino posted on X on Monday calling for users to "become part of this important community" of contributors to Community Notes not long after canceling her scheduled appearance at The Wall Street Journal's tech conference next week, WSJ Tech Live.
X told The Journal in a statement that she would not be attending as "with the global crisis unfolding, Linda and her team must remain fully focused on X platform safety."
X's official safety account shared a statement on the platform Monday that said there had been more than 50 million posts on the Israel-Gaza war. It added that Community Notes "appear within minutes" of content being shared and are a "critical tool" to help it combat misinformation.
X didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.