On Nov. 12, 2023, multiple "verified" users on X with blue checkmarks next to their handles shared false captions that claimed a video of a hospitalized Palestinian man taking a bandage off of his head while his mother stood by his bedside was "fake," and that it showed "crisis actors" in "Pallywood," an apparent joke on the words Palestine and Hollywood.
More than 24 hours after the posts had been available, none of X's sometimes-contextual Community Notes were visible underneath the false claims.
Amid the rising tolls of deaths and injuries in Gaza – which followed Hamas' surprise attack in Israel on Oct. 7 – the false captions about the video were displayed to millions of users and with no apparent corrective measures put forth by X.
For example, "verified" X user @Imamofpeace falsely claimed, "This is gold. A Palestinian mother sees images online showing her son injured. She races to the hospital only to find it all fake. He is fine, it’s just an act mommy. It’s called Pallywood."
Another "verified" user named @amjadt25 also falsely claimed that the injured man had "no bandages," "fake blood" and "zero injuries."
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In a third example of how false information was spreading about the video, "verified" user @dudi_dolev wrote in Hebrew the misleading caption, "Mom, everything is fine. It's just for the camera."
So that readers can see the video, here's a post from the @QudsNen account that displays the clip without the false claims:
The injured man, against...
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