The latest is the downing of an American plane.. How do the Houthis lead an ongoing disinformation campaign on social media?

An American magazine said that the Houthis are leading an ongoing disinformation campaign on social media, noting that the propaganda targets their bases and opponents. It believed that "it may be supported by Washington's opponents."

A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft operating aboard the Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) was shot down in a "friendly fire" incident, U.S. Central Command announced Sunday.

But the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen were quick to announce that they had “thwarted an American-British attack on Yemen,” which they claimed had led to “the downing of an F-18 fighter jet,” the American magazine Forbes said - translated by “Yemeni Youth Net.”

US Central Command has acknowledged that the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64), one of the warships that forms part of the Carrier Strike Group (CSG), was responsible for unintentionally shooting down the fighter jet.

The CG-64 and CVN-75 did not arrive in the CENTCOM area of responsibility until last week.

Houthi disinformation campaign continues

Misinformation and disinformation spread rapidly across social media in the hours following the incident—however, this is not the first time the rebel group has claimed victory over the United States. In June, the Houthis claimed to have successfully carried out a missile and drone strike that severely damaged another U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Eisenhower (CVN-69), in the Red Sea.

Last month, the group also claimed victory after the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) left the region and returned to the United States. The carrier had originally been deployed to the Indo-Pacific, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the warship to the Middle East in August to bolster the U.S. presence and deter Iran and its regional proxies, including the Houthis.

The arrival of the CVN-75 appears to be countering the Houthis’ declaration of victory last month, which may be why they quickly announced the downing of the F/A-18 Super Hornet earlier this week.

“The latest example of the Houthis claiming a false victory over the friendly fire incident that downed a US jet is just another example of self-aggrandizing Houthi propaganda,” said geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, president of Scarab Appreciation.

She pointed out that "the propaganda mainly targets their base and opponents, as they have adopted previous incidents and unfounded allegations of launching attacks or damaging American ships in the vicinity."

"The Houthis have consistently sought to demonstrate their power and influence at the expense of the other side, in the context of a primitive media war aimed at raising morale among supporters and confusing hostile forces," Zuckerman added.

Victory in the war of words

Although the Houthis’ capabilities have grown significantly—and the group is likely to be armed with advanced missiles and drones from Iran—they have demonstrated their ability to confront the U.S. Navy head-on through social media.

Although the US Central Command was quick to respond to the downing of the Super Hornet, many in the Middle East will believe the Houthis rather than the official response from Washington. - According to the American magazine - Unfortunately, many in the United States may wonder whether the US Central Command is telling the truth.

“Social media responses become increasingly important as news like this emerges, because these platforms are now de facto news sources for many users,” said Dr. Juliana Kirschner, a lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.

“There are no journalistic standards applied to social media, so misinformation and disinformation spread like wildfire,” Kirschner noted. “The Houthis claimed responsibility for this friendly fire incident simply because they faced little resistance on social media, where such misinformation thrives. Their cause only benefits from claiming responsibility because there is no risk and all the ideological rewards.”

Moreover, “official” media outlets in parts of the Middle East will spread Houthi claims simply because they make the United States look weak. This will in turn spread on social media, which often plays a disproportionate role in amplifying these disinformation efforts by providing virtually unlimited platforms for unfiltered content and false and misleading claims.

“In general, social media is useful for spreading misinformation for several reasons,” said Dr. Cliff Lambie, professor of information and dean of academic affairs at the University of Michigan School of Information.

“War is already a difficult space to maintain clarity, but we are moving further away from clarity with the influence of certain content on social media. Users can consider regularly consuming content from journalistic sources to ensure they get the fullest possible picture,” she noted.

Moreover, publishing anything that makes Americans look weak or bad is in itself an act of resistance from the perspective of Iran and its proxies.

“Similarly, in English, it is easy to debunk such things, and anyone who follows mainstream news coverage will surely be aware of what happened. Most Westerners are unlikely to have direct knowledge of Houthi propaganda,” Zuckerman said.

However, there is a growing number of those who are inherently skeptical of Western institutions who are actively seeking out “alternative” sources of information and are likely to be incited to support conspiracy theories or anti-American fake news promoted not only by the Houthis themselves in Arabic but by anyone with an agenda to undermine the image of the United States and challenge the American role in the region.

Washington's opponents in the world are involved

The issue could extend beyond the Middle East, Zuckerman warned, and it is likely that the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, and various proxy accounts are already working to promote versions of Houthi claims or other disinformation in ways that take the Houthis’ fictional victories into a world of more subtle and closely monitored disinformation networks.

Combining fact and fiction can lead to reshaping narratives that go beyond the original and more effectively.

“Those who are already inclined to believe that U.S. military power is in decline may not take a Houthi-linked source seriously, but they may embrace a Russian-backed ‘alternative source’ with enthusiasm,” Zuckerman continued.

“Watching misinformation spread online is like watching a little kid with a knife,” said Susan Campbell, a senior lecturer in journalism at the University of New Haven.

But the Houthis—and their supporters—may only be able to “cry wolf” so often. The presence of another U.S. aircraft carrier and the continued strikes serve to remind us that while they claimed “victory” a month ago, the war continues. So the louder the Houthis make their claims, the fewer people are actually listening.

“People forget that if they become known as a disseminator of false information, people will eventually stop caring about them,” Campbell said.