I am not an obvious fan of Elon Musk, but his decision to "uncensor" content exposing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the occupation endured by its people on his X platform is not only bold, but also a humanely sensible act. Â The crisis has been going on for a little over 1 month now, and the relentless acts of oppression and aggression done by the Israeli military personnels towards Gaza civilians have also been flooding our social media. Former twitter, now called X has become more than just an instant messaging platform during this period of humanitarian crisis, especially since its owner has decided to exert unbanning of most contents coming from both sides involved in the conflict.
Depending on your followings, the X algorithm will most obviously suggest and show the side that you are currently supporting (the oppressed or the oppressor's side). Â It is plain to see that due to the massive, mostly unfiltered, instantaneous live report on X that are coming from Gaza, many people around the world have started to wake up in support of the Palestinians which for many it would also mean to go against their government's stance, foreign policy and (biased) political views.
It is disheartening and outrageous to see the killing of innocent Gaza civilians, mostly children and women, but the massive humanitarian supports from around the world which are posted and reported on X have given us hope and a better understanding of what is actually taking place on the ground. X social network has become an important and timely sharing platform for activists, citizen journalists, news media outlets, humanitarian sympathizers and common people to give information about the recent occurrence, to exchange words of encouragement for the victims, and to share their point of view on the crisis as a whole.Â
At this point, I would say that what Elon Musk has decided to do is quite heroic. In an interview with Lex Fridman, Musk did not shy away in explaining his logic for not applying narrow censorship on X to all contents exposing the war in Gaza which could subjectively and politically be considered as harmful by certain parties. In its news report dated 13 October 2023, Al Jazeera had also highlighted the European Union's launched investigation into Musk's X social media platform over the spread of disinformation and violent content on the Israel-Hamas conflict. It demanded scrutiny over and sanction on X, should the platform fail to comply with the rules on illicit and harmful content. I further learnt from that (Al-Jazeera's) piece that under the European's / EU's Digital Services Act, "platforms that fail to crack down on content deemed illegal can be fined up to 6 percent of their global turnover or even banned from operating within the bloc."
As further reported by Al Jazeera and The New Arab news sites, in response to the EU objection and scrutiny, X management via its executive Linda Yaccarino has defended its social media network saying that it has not blatantly let random content and accounts related to the conflict get loose exposure; "Yacarino declared X's attempt and record of the deletion of hundreds of Hamas-linked accounts as well as the removal and/or labelling of tens of thousands of pieces of violent and harmful content." - all to prevent and minimize disinformation, false reports and fabricated footage sharing.
I may be biased in this case, but I salute X shared-contribution in this humanitarian crisis and the Palestinian cause. Despite its controversial move to post content deemed as violent by some other parties which may not be fitting with their political agenda, we have to admit that the facts and reports coming from the crisis ground put forward via X are not all fabricated and erroneous. Musk's decision is not without its consequence, yet it has undoubtedly enabled access for the rest of the world to get alternate voices; the voice of the voiceless which are often unheard or silenced. Â I hope X owner's stance on this matter will remain unshaken.
Above all else, as X users, it is your objective in keeping up with the Gaza crisis that should dictate which source to pay attention to and who to follow. If you want to educate yourself on the origin of the Palestine occupation, it will be a good idea to look into some of the scholars' perspective and human right activists' updates on the matter like that of Norman Finkelstein, Katie Halper A Jew for #CeasefireNow, CJ Werlerman, Abby Martin @AbbyMartin, Sarah Wilkinson @swilkinsonbc, Sarah @sahouraxo, and George Galloway whose views and content updates I would consider as unbiased. I would also recommend the X account of Al Jazeera news site, @AJEnglish and an individual X account belonging to Muhammad Smiry for more current and factual coverage on the Gaza crisis.
Myself, being a common citizen living thousands of miles away from the occupation territory have become more well-informed of what is happening on the ground due to my followings and activity on X. As much as I have become more well-informed by the unfolding crisis on a daily if not hourly basis, I too cannot help being more and more perplexed by the occupiers' brutal atrocity towards helpless Gaza civilians. I am devastated by the suffering of the war victims, but also highly touched to witness the dedication of the humanitarian heroes (doctors / paramedics, nurses, aid workers and volunteers) who risk their lives every day to care for the most vulnerable among them. Thank you X for letting us, especially me, learn the hard truth and awaken the positive force of the world to save humanity one message at a time.
