How Twitter/X became a haven for fake news and misinformation

As the EU warns that the site is host to false information and ‘military footage that actually originated from video games’, Twitter/X has become an increasingly unhelpful place to follow conflicts like the tragic events in Israel and Gaza, writes Andrew Griffin

Twitter/X is also full of people complaining about how the site is unusable (AFP via Getty)

Earlier this year, Elon Musk made one of his more subtle changes to Twitter/X. For nearly 15 years, it had included a message in its tweet composer that used the prompt: “What’s happening?” Then, this summer, it lost its contraction and gained an exclamation mark. “What is happening?!”

The frenzied and confused tone is perfect for our times and for today’s Twitter/X. So is the hint that the question has moved from being genuine to rhetorical. Once, the joke about Twitter/X was that people answered that question by describing their breakfast; today, if the question is answered at all, it is likely to be as an expression of confusion, ignorance or anger.

“What is happening?!” Well, one thing is for sure, Twitter/X is certainly not an especially good place to find out. And it has been getting worse.