Shifting politics make India a hotbed for Israel-Hamas war misinformation

On October 7, within hours of the armed group Hamas launching a surprise attack on Israel, social media platforms were rife with support for Israel – and also fake news. What stood out in the clamour was the fact that a fair amount of it was produced and distributed by accounts from India. In the days after Israel declared war on Hamas, a blue-tick-verified handle posted a video on the social media platform X of a Pakistani parliamentarian threatening to obliterate Israel with an "atom bomb" if it did not end its atrocities against Muslims. That video received more than 840,000 views. But it was from 2021 and is not related to the current war.