Russia, China and Iran backing Hamas online: Report

Tel Aviv, Nov 6 (IANS) Iran, Russia and China are reportedly using state media and social media to undercut Israel and the US, and support Hamas, a media report said. 

Officials and researchers told The New York Times in a report that the volume of disinformation and online propaganda is reaching unprecedented levels, largely due to networks of bots and fake accounts.

According to the NYT report, Russia and China are seeking to undermine the US, as well as Israel.

“In a single day after the conflict began, roughly one in four accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X posting about the conflict appeared to be fake,” the report said. 

“In the 24 hours after the blast at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, more than one in three accounts posting about it on X were [fake”," it said, Times of Israel reported.

While the US officials and experts quoted in the report said that the various online campaigns spreading disinformation about Israel did not appear coordinated, they were all working to “amplify one another and expand the global reach of their views across multiple platforms in multiple languages".

The so-called “axis” made up of Iran, Russia and China is aligned in opposition of US involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war, as well as in the Middle East.

According to the report, Hamas has “employed a broad, sophisticated media strategy inspired by groups like the Islamic State” since the first hours of its deadly attack on October 7, Times of Israel reported.

--IANS

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