Thread by @marcowenjones

🧵So far on X the unconfirmed report about 40 murdered babies have at least 44 million impressions, 300k likes, over 100k reposts (retweets). The key propagators of the story were @i24NEWS_EN and @Israel, the story was based on a report by @Nicole_Zedek

The original report never claimed 40 babies were decapitated. Zedek reported that soldiers told her that up to '40 babies/children' were killed and '40 babies were taken out on gurneys'. She also stated on X that some babies heads had been cut off. However, those reports, which

came from an IDF soldier(s), have in some cases morphed and gone viral. Some outlets are reporting '40 babies killed', or '40 babies beheaded', while some are reporting '40 babies killed, some beheaded'. Neither the 40 babies being killed and/or beheaded has been independently

verified. Indeed, Sky News have said the IDF have refused to confirm the news. Meanwhile, some highly influential people are continuing to spread the news, including @jk_rowling - who has over 13 million followers. There is no doubt that civilians have been brutally massacred,

but narratives around slaughtered babies are particularly emotive and useful in propaganda and jingoism- historically (from WW1, to false information around the invasion of Iraq in 1990). A reminder to be careful of what you share, especially during live reporting

Regardless of how you frame this there is clearly misleading information around two things
a) ages killed (Zedek said 'babies/children')
b) how they were killed (some/all beheaded).
The lack or clarity & consistency, singular sourcing is enough to indicate caution with the story

It's also worth noting that some people have contributed to the narrative by trying to denounce it as propaganda, misrepresenting the original reporting by claiming Zidek explicitly said 40 babies were all beheaded.

In terms of methods for the analytics, I downloaded all tweets in the past 4 days that used the term '40 babies' with a minimum of 5 retweets (this is due to API limits). So, as I mentioned, the impressions, retweets,are a lowball number.

Just a sample of today's UK papers. The @MetroUK literally has 40 babies murdered as a headline along with an Israeli soldier holding a puppy. The Times isn't specific in the headline, but specifies that the babies throats were cut

The Daily Express has led with the beheading story, and the Sun have also included it on the front page. i and Telegraph also include the story on the front page.

Most of the papers trace the source back to the Zidek/ I24news report