The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and other warships cross the Strait of Hormuz. … [+]
For over a week, a photo purporting to show a US Navy nuclear submarine has been circulating on social media. NimitzUSS-class supercarrier Dwight D. Eisenhower The aircraft carrier (CVN-69) is in port for repairs after being damaged in the Red Sea by a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, while at least one video purports to show the carrier on fire after a direct hit.
The U.S. Navy said the carrier was safe – it remains deployed in the Red Sea to protect commercial shipping from drones and missiles fired by Iranian-backed groups that control large swaths of Yemen – but there have been no confirmed reports of it suffering any damage.
But the latest video supporting these claims was posted on Thursday on “X,” the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
This followed another post by user @iAmTheWarax, who claimed the carrier had been forced to return to Crete for repairs.
“Confirmed: USS Eisenhower (pictured anchored in Souda Bay for repairs) sustained significant damage after being hit by multiple Houthi ballistic missiles. Based on the large tent village that has formed on the flight deck, it is unlikely that Eisenhower will return to duty in the foreseeable future.”
@DrMansourMansou also shared a 30-second video clip earlier this week showing smoke rising above the flight deck after a missile or drone struck the ship.
These posts, and others too, have all been proven false.
The latest footage is from the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower It was docked at Pier 12 at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, in April 2023, but the images claim that the CVN-69 in Crete wasn’t even a U.S. Navy vessel. Rather, it was actually the flagship of the Russian Navy. Admiral KuznetsovSince 2018, the ship has been undergoing renovation at Ship Repair Plant No. 35 in Murmansk.
The footage of the burning aircraft carrier appears to be taken from a video game, and social media users have pointed out that the shape of the island on the flight deck is different to that of the US Navy’s. NimitzClass aircraft carrier.
Disinformation campaigns
Posts on social media have gained momentum after Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree repeated claims that the rebels had succeeded in attacking the USS. Dwight D. Eisenhower The US Navy, along with other ships in the carrier strike group, captured this footage over the weekend, and while such footage would be easily disproven and dismissed in the US, in some parts of the world it may be accepted as fact.
While some of this may be laughable, it is part of a meticulously orchestrated disinformation campaign.
“Misinformation and disinformation are certainly not new, but social media platforms are exacerbating this existing problem,” warned Dr Julianna Kirschner, a lecturer at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.
“These platforms have no lag time and content can be created and/or uploaded instantly,” Kirschner explained. “This virtual space allows people to interact with the USS Eisenhower Despite the reality, it sunk in. While an attempt at humor is often the source of these claims, the sarcasm and tone are often lost on these platforms. Taken at face value, other users may think they’ve stumbled upon a new fact that’s far from the truth.”
It’s easier than ever to fake misleading content
The big danger is that it is now easier than ever to manipulate videos and photos, and in a short space of time it can become very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.
“Photo swapping scams, such as those claimed in the Houthi attacks, are fairly easy to disprove. More sophisticated deepfake videos pose bigger problems and dangers,” said Charles King, a technology industry analyst at Pund-IT. “For example, a video of a political leader speaking that has been slightly altered to make the person appear older, less confident, or older. If such a video is released right before an election, before it can be effectively disproved, it could have a major impact on voter preferences.”
Misinformation relies on primacy and first impressions, making it difficult to debunk even when it seems impossible.
“It’s common for users to see images or videos that ‘prove’ these falsehoods and then believe them,” Kirschner says, “but when later presented with information that contradicts the truth, the same group may become even more convinced. Psychologically, they may be unwilling to admit that they’ve been duped, or may not even realize that they’ve been duped, so they continue to assert their first impressions as fact, despite contradictory evidence. This is especially true when misinformation or disinformation supports users’ existing ideologies, as is the case with Yemen and Iran.”
Another unprecedented aspect of social media’s influence in spreading this type of misinformation is the size of the potential audience.
“Anyone can post nonsense at any time, but whether that content will reach a significant audience is debatable,” Kirschner continued. “But the possibility is always there, so users and bot owners alike circulate false social media content in hopes of reaching a detectable audience. If such posts are accessed in Yemen or Iran, or anywhere else, we should all be concerned. If the primacy effect is any indication, the damage these posts cause will be difficult to unprogram.”
