Why was the image with the words 'ALL EYES ON RAFAH' shared over 44 million times around the world?



An image of a white tent with the words 'ALL EYES ON RAFAH' has gone viral, being shared more than 44 million times in 48 hours. Experts are puzzled as to why it has become so popular.

'All Eyes on Rafah' image shared by millions on Instagram
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/-eyes-rafah-image-shared-millions-instagram-rcna154380

Viral All Eyes on Rafah Instagram image likely AI-generated, prompting criticism
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/30/all-eyes-on-rafah-ai-image-gaza

All Eyes on Rafah's Virality Creates Market for AI Spam About Palestine
https://www.404media.co/all-eyes-on-rafah-brings-facebooks-ai-spam-to-war/

The image in question is below. RAFAH refers to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, which was attacked by the Israeli military on May 26 and 28, 2024, amid ongoing clashes between the Israeli military and Hamas. Many civilians who had taken refuge in Rafah were killed in the attack.




The image above was reportedly first posted by an Instagram account with tens of thousands of followers. The image quickly gained attention and was shared beyond Instagram.

Some believe that the scene shown in the image is not the real Rafa, but an AI-generated image.

BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh points out that the reason this image went viral could be due to 'the recent attacks that have attracted public attention, it was posted on Instagram Stories which makes it relatively easy to share, it is one of the main platforms for pro-Palestinian activists, and it is unlikely to be removed for violating Instagram's terms of service like real, gruesome images of bodies.'




Many images of the Gaza Strip, including images of bodies and collapsed houses, have been uploaded to the Internet, but none have gone viral as quickly as this one, perhaps because of its graphic nature or because it violates the platform's terms of use.

Journalist Ryan Broderick also speculates that the reason the image went viral was because it was abstract enough to evade Instagram's censorship and filters.




In response to this image, pro-Israel influencer Benjamin Hamon created an image (left below) that read, 'Where were your eyes on October 7th?' and shared it on Instagram, but it seems that after being shared about 500,000 times, it was censored and the entire account was deleted. October 7th (2023) was the day that Hamas, which effectively controls the Gaza Strip, began its attacks on Israel.




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◆ Forum is currently open
A forum related to this article has been set up on the official GIGAZINE Discord server . Anyone can post freely, so please feel free to comment! If you do not have a Discord account, please refer to the account creation procedure article to create an account!

• Discord | 'Have you seen an image that says 'ALL EYES ON RAFAH'? On which social media did you see it?' | GIGAZINE
https://discord.com/channels/1037961069903216680/1246033215236608111

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