Disinformation about the Israel-Hamas war: Analysis of fake news identified by Spanish fact-checking platforms
Abstract
This research examines, through a content analysis, the features of the fake news disseminated in Spain about the Israel-Hamas war and registered in the verification platforms Maldita.es, Newtral, Efe Verifica, Verificat and Infoveritas between October 7, 2023, and March 7, 2024, that is, the first five months of the conflict (n=232). We detected the prominence of audiovisual elements in these messages —disseminated mainly through X— to provide greater verisimilitude to the story. An eminently ideological purpose, a majority absence of identified sources, and the decontextualization of the information are also perceived. There is a predominance of hoaxes about attacks, bombings and civilian deaths, most of them referring to Israeli offensives against Gaza. In order to verify these contents, fact-checkers resort to a vast repertoire of mainly digital resources and tools.
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