There’s fog around the Israel-Hamas war, and X has been acting like a giant smoke machine.

Researchers and professional fact-checkers are lamenting that the social platform—once the go-to source for live news updates—is now a hotbed of misinformation and disinformation. While some misleading content is getting marked as such, dozens of videos falsely attributed to the current conflict have been widely circulating without a disclaimer.

• Footage of an urban landscape illuminated by red flashes described as an Israeli bombardment of Gaza turned out to be fireworks in Algeria.
• A video with hundreds of thousands of views billed as an Israeli helicopter getting shot down by Hamas was really a clip from the hyperrealistic video game Arma 3.

Meanwhile, X owner Elon Musk has not been very helpful in steering users toward credible sources. In a now-deleted post from this weekend, he recommended two accounts “for following the war in real-time.” Both profiles have spread disinfo in the past (like news of an explosion near the White House that never happened), and one has previously made antisemitic comments.

Why did X become so dubious?

Experts say the app’s transformation after Musk took over has made it easier for unverified info to spread. Paying users now receive the blue checkmark previously reserved for news organizations and verified individuals, and get their content amplified. This could explain why a now-suspended account posing as the Jerusalem Post was able to get over 700k views on its false claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hospitalized.

Others aren’t surprised that misinformation has festered, since X fired most of the employees responsible for weeding it out.

If you want fact-checked Israel–Hamas war developments…media orgs like the BBC, the Associated Press, and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz have verified updates, while trusted journalists like Trey Yingst, Nic Robertson, and Rushdi Abualouf are reporting from Israel and Gaza.—SK

The latest updates on the Israel-Hamas war. As the conflict enters its fourth day, President Biden confirmed that at least 11 US citizens were killed and an unknown number remain missing after the terrorist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel and took dozens of Israelis back to Gaza as hostages. Yesterday, the armed wing of Hamas threatened to kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel bombs Palestinian civilians in Gaza without warning. Travelers are in limbo as most major airlines have suspended flights in and out of Tel Aviv, and Delta canceled its flights there through the end of the month. Israel has called up 300,000 reservists, its largest mobilization in history, ahead of a potential ground operation in Gaza.

Disney has another fight on its hands. Nelson Peltz is ready to author the rare sequel Disney did not approve. The billionaire activist investor who withdrew from a proxy fight with the media giant earlier this year is expected to take up that battle again, making a fresh push for multiple board seats. Peltz, who heads Trian Fund Management, conceded the fight in February after finding Disney CEO Bob Iger’s plan to cut costs and restructure acceptable. But the company’s stock price has since dipped from $113 to about $80, renewing his desire for more control. If Disney does not say “be our guest” to Peltz’s terms, Trian could once again nominate new directors who’d be subject to a vote next spring.

Walgreens pharmacists take a walk. Pharmacy employees at Walgreens across the country walked off the job yesterday, citing harsh working conditions created by undersized staff that leave them unable to safely fill prescriptions while meeting the demands of a busy vaccine season. The three-day walkout was organized entirely via social media, as the group lacks a centralized labor union like the WGA and UAW. CNN reported that at least 500 stores are interested in participating and confirmed pharmacy closures in Arizona, Washington, Massachusetts, and Oregon. The walkout follows the example of Kansas City CVS employees, who protested similar conditions last month by walking off the job for two days.

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For the third time in 54 years, a woman has won the Nobel Prize in Economics. The prestigious award went to Claudia Goldin yesterday for her research on the causes of the gender pay gap and “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes,” according to the prize committee.

Goldin, an economics professor at Harvard University, is the first woman to receive the award on her own rather than share it with men. She’s no stranger to being first: Goldin was also the first woman to receive tenure in the economics department at Harvard.

Uncovering the gender pay gap: Goldin’s groundbreaking research found that the gender pay gap largely coincides with the birth of a first child. A 15-year study of MBA students at the University of Chicago conducted by Goldin revealed that the pay gap began to widen within the first two years after a woman had her first child, since women take on the majority of childcare duties, leaving less time for work. “We’re never going to have gender equality until we also have couple equity,” Goldin said in an interview with the New York Times after winning the prize.

Coincidentally, Goldin won the Nobel prize within days of publishing her latest paper, “Why Women Won,” about the women’s movements of the 1970s and why progress has slowed since.—CC

Your goalkeeper friend who’s always saying they’re “built different” may actually be right.

A research team in Ireland—which includes a former professional keeper pursuing a neuroscience degree—discovered that the guardians of the 18-yard box are leagues ahead of the rest of us in their processing of audiovisual information.

To arrive at this conclusion, they tested professional goalies, field players, and similarly aged plebeians on their responses to quick beeps and flashes of light, representing the stimuli of a real soccer game. They found that…

• When a noise played closely to a single flash of light, nonplayers and field players were more likely to report seeing two flashes of light—suggesting that their brains were confusing sight and sound signals.
• The time gap between the flash and the beep had to be three times shorter than it was for everyone else to throw the goalies off their game.

Nature or nurture? The researchers aren’t yet sure whether people who become keepers are born with naturally superior sensory skills, or if they develop them through years of training.—ML

Stat: Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Latte turns 20 today, and it’s likely to spend the milestone birthday the same way the rest of us do: overcome with thoughts of its own mortality. That’s because market research suggests that interest in pumpkin-flavored products is waning. According to NielsenIQ, unit sales of pumpkin-flavored things dropped 1.5% for the 52-week period ending in July—the second straight year sales declined. The number of pumpkin-flavored products on the market also fell to 3,072, from 3,213 a few years earlier. While PSL enthusiasts can rest easy knowing the annual tradition won’t just disappear overnight, it’s possible we’re already past Peak Pumpkin.

Quote: “We’re in the ‘afraid of Apple’ stage—not unlike how the mobile-phone industry felt just before the iPhone’s release in 2007.”

What do Adam and Eve and employees at Meta have in common? They’re all terrified of Apple. In a Bloomberg report on Meta’s and Apple’s competing mixed-reality headsets, one Meta worker told the outlet that everyone’s taking their cues from what Apple decides to add to the Vision Pro. As a result, Meta has reportedly adjusted the marketing strategy for its Quest 3 device, emphasizing gaming and productivity instead of the metaverse.

Read: Advice from startup founders who beat the odds. (Morning Brew)

DIY: It’s time to buy a cheap mini printer, because physical photo albums are so back.

Watch: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is available to rent or buy on digital platforms today—because not enough of you went to theaters to see Tom Cruise motorbike off a cliff directly into a base jump onto a moving train.

Buy: Amazon’s two-day Prime Big Deal Days sale starts today, so now’s your chance to get those Jurassic Park Crocs you’ve always wanted.

Treat your mind: In honor of World Mental Health Day today, here’s a handy guide from Project Healthy Minds on finding resources to improve your mental wellness.

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