The Israel-Palestine conflict has entered a new frontier: the digital space. As narratives clash online, understanding who wins the digital war is crucial for grasping the dynamics of this longstanding conflict.
Recent analysis of over 467,000 tweets using a custom digital analytics platform sheds light on how social media is shaping perceptions and influencing geopolitical stances. By focusing on key hashtags like #PalestineUnderAttack, #GazaUnderAttack, #IsraelUnderAttack, and #IStandWithIsrael, three significant insights emerge.
1. Battle for Digital Dominance
In the early hours of the latest attack by Hamas, Palestinian voices surged on social media, dominating the conversation. Israel's initial surprise and focus on defense delayed their digital response, allowing Palestinian narratives to take center stage. However, as Western media and global political actors rallied in support of Israel, the digital landscape began to shift. The framing of the conflict as a \"terrorist attack\" by Hamas gave Israel a stronger foothold in the narrative, leading to a more balanced but polarized digital space by the third day. Currently, Palestine holds three times the digital volume compared to Israel, primarily due to ongoing airstrikes.
2. Emerging Narrative Clusters
Utilizing large language models (LLM), the study identified and categorized rapidly evolving narratives within the conflict. Narratives oscillated between portraying Palestine as a victorious group reclaiming its land and highlighting Israel as a victim of terrorism. Additionally, there has been significant criticism of Israel’s indiscriminate bombings in Gaza. The speed at which these narratives evolve surpasses traditional analysis methods, underscoring the importance of AI in tracking and understanding digital warfare.
As the conflict continues, the digital battle for narrative supremacy remains a pivotal element, influencing international perspectives and potentially shaping future geopolitical alignments.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
