'Verified' Users on X Falsely Claim Video of Hospitalized Palestinian Man and Mother Is 'Fake'
Facts And Fact Checking,Israel Hamas Violence,Palestine
On Nov. 12, 2023, multiple "verified" users on X with blue checkmarks next to their handles shared false captions that claimed a video of a hospitalized Palestinian man with a bandage on his head while his mother stood by his bedside was "fake," and that it showed "crisis actors" in "Pallywood," an apparent joke on the words Palestine and Hollywood.
More than 24 hours after the posts had been available, none of X's sometimes-contextual Community Notes were visible underneath the false claims.
Amid the rising tolls of deaths and injuries in Gaza – which followed Hamas' surprise attack in Israel on Oct. 7 – the false captions about the video were displayed to millions of users and with no apparent corrective measures put forth by X.
For example, "verified" X user @Imamofpeace falsely claimed, "This is gold. A Palestinian mother sees images online showing her son injured. She races to the hospital only to find it all fake. He is fine, it’s just an act mommy. It’s called Pallywood."
