The Algorithmic War

Twenty years ago, confronted with his disastrous invasion of Iraq, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld memorably said, “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.” His remarks were seen as an excuse for bad planning and command decisions, but he was stating an inconvenient truth long known to military leaders.

Wars reveal previously undetected weaknesses in weapons and strategies. Twenty-two million soldiers died in World War I because European generals didn’t understand the impact of machine guns, modern artillery, and railroads on warfare. The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the vulnerability of tanks to cheap missiles and the asymmetrical power of cardboard drones against multi-million-dollar aircraft. The Gaza war is serving the same uncomfortable purpose—showing Israel and anyone else who is paying attention the power of computer algorithms.

The problem surfaces in ways that feel amusing at first. On Facebook, for example, my interest in stories about the war in Israel have led the Facebook algorithm to decide that I must also want to see posts that take the Hamas point of view on the conflict. When I reported these posts as spreading hate, Facebook immediately sent me a message that they would look into the matter. A few minutes later, Facebook informed me that their automated system had inspected the post in question and determined that it did not, in fact, contain any hate speech.

I, a lowly human being, believe that a social media post supporting a group that wants me, and 9 million Israelis dead, should not be on their platform.

Voila! It’s a complete circle…uh…twerk powered by artificial intelligence (AI). I, a lowly human being, believe that a social media post supporting a group that wants me, and 9 million Israelis dead, should not be on their platform. Facebook’s AI says I’m wrong. End of story.

Algorithms are technically not AI, but they still use software logic to “think” about what I might want to see. It’s the same technology Amazon used to suggest that I buy a book about carbohydrate addiction after I got my wife a book about the lives of famous Jewish women for her birthday. Does that computer know what it’s talking about, or what? This digital “thinking” has also led my LinkedIn feed to be nearly 100% devoted to the Gaza war. The software wants me to see posts related to my greatest interest, per their analysis, but I use LinkedIn for business so I would like more variety.

If these irritations and inconveniences were the only impacts of algorithms, I wouldn’t pay much attention to the problem. The reality is far more serious. The algorithmic feeding of news to audiences based on their preferences is resulting in a massively imbalanced view of Israel.

On Tik Tok, the #freepalestine hashtag attaches to videos viewed hundreds of millions of times.

The Gaza war is also an algorithmic war. On Tik Tok, the #freepalestine hashtag attaches to videos viewed hundreds of millions of times. The self-reinforcing nature of the algorithm causes social media users to see anti-Israel propaganda over and over. The significance of this trend may be elusive to older people, but it’s important to know that 46% of Americans get their news from social media every day and 44% of Americans ages 18-29 get their news from Tik Tok. Among this latter group, 62% are now anti-Israel.

The algorithmic distortions of the truth about Israel and the Gaza war are stoking irrational attacks on Jews. We thus see mobs of enraged homosexuals, who would be imprisoned and beheaded if they lived in Gaza, attacking Jews outside of my old synagogue in Los Angeles. We see mobs of enraged feminists screaming in defense of men who rape Jewish women so violently that they can’t be buried in conventional coffins. We see mobs of white, Christian Americans, whose wealth and status derive almost entirely from their historic genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans, marching en masse against the Jews, whom they decry as “white colonizers.”

These incidents are no accident. The algorithm does what it’s programmed to do. However, as many digital marketers and influencers know, it is possible to trick the algorithm into doing what you want. Tik Tok is being fed massive numbers of videos that support the Hamas narrative of the war. The algorithm does the rest. It’s not clear who is doing this, but someone is, and it’s probably a loose coalition of Muslim entities, the Chinese government, and other malefactors who want benefit from Israel’s troubles.

I would therefore add a lack of algorithmic savvy to the unfortunate list of Israel’s unpreparedness for this war.

I would therefore add a lack of algorithmic savvy to the unfortunate list of Israel’s unpreparedness for this war. Maybe that’s not fair. They can’t think of everything, but I certainly hope they’re paying attention now.

The algorithmic deficit is harming them, especially with critical American audiences that vote for military aid for Israel and other matters that are essential for Israel’s survival. Israel certainly has the talent to do better in the algorithmic war. It’s a question of focus and investment. Israel should heed Rumsfeld’s warning and prepare themselves to fight the next war with the algorithmic army they want, not the one they have. In the meantime, we can all do our part and refuse to click on stories that glorify Hamas. That will starve the anti-Israel algorithm of data and reduce the spread of disinformation.