At the same time, through microtargeting the regimes can focus more specialized messages on different constituencies, again at relatively low cost. Huge platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram are great ways to reach elite Saudis focused on politics as well as more ordinary Saudis who might use these platforms for sports, work, and entertainment. When governments can tap into these personal networks, their messages are far more likely to be believed and supported.įinally, social media also offers an excellent mix of differentiation and reach. Family and friends pass on news and other information via Facebook and other platforms, implicitly endorsing it, and they are more trusted sources than the media and government. Social media sources are often more trusted than traditional media. Some states clandestinely fund private firms, encourage their citizens to act on their own, or simply tolerate activities such as hacking and harassment, making it hard to find a smoking gun that ties the government to a specific action. Social media campaigns also grant a degree of deniability. Rumors and conspiracies are more likely to be believed if people are repeatedly exposed to them, and the constant pushing of conspiracies on multiple platforms can make the outlandish seem believable. What’s more, social media companies’ guardrails are weaker outside an English-language environment, as they may focus more on profitability and innovation before security and information quality. As so many Middle Easterners use social media, manipulating these platforms is an inexpensive way for regimes to influence large audiences.
Perhaps most important, social media campaigns are relatively cheap and have low barriers to entry. Social media offers governments several advantages in their information operations. Why social media is so useful for Middle Eastern governments On a more individual level, Saudi Arabia targeted dissidents such as Jamal Khashoggi, trying to make his online life a living hell - “the equivalent of sustained gunfire online,” as one of his friends put it. Iran, for its part, created a network of fake websites and online personas, an operation that The Citizen Lab labeled “Endless Mayfly,” to spread false information about Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States. This campaign later encompassed an effort to discredit Qatar’s ally, Turkey, and included actors in the civil wars in Libya and Yemen, as well. It escalated into a massive social media skirmish between the two sides around the broader Muslim world that endures to this day. The confrontation between Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE ( the so-called “Quartet”) and Qatar, for example, began in 2017 in part due to social media exploitation involving hacked email accounts and associated disinformation. Social media campaigns are now a regular tool of Middle Eastern governments, and they are used as well by governments like Russia seeking to influence the Middle East. It is easy for ideas to cross borders, and in so doing they can inspire, frighten, or subvert.
In addition, shared religious, historical, and linguistic ties, embodied in concepts such as pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism, both create transnational bonds and foster vulnerabilities. This tendency is reinforced by actual conspiracies, including the 1953 coup that toppled Mossadegh, the false pretext of the Suez Crisis, and myriad attempts by regional governments to weaken and overthrow one another.
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In addition to intense regional rivalries, the lack of free media in many countries and the distrust of government and institutions make the region particularly vulnerable. The Middle East, however, may be especially prone to foreign influence operations. Virtually every authoritarian regime barrages its own population with propaganda, ranging from state-controlled television to social media campaigns on a wide range of platforms.
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