The following is an excerpt from "The Social Media War in the Middle East," by Daniel Byman, which appears in the Autumn 2021 issue of The Middle East Journal. Click here to download a PDF of the full piece, available free for a limited time. See the full contents of the latest issue of the Journal here and consider becoming a subscriber.
The Middle East has always been rife with enmity and rivalry, and its regimes have long taken advantage of the region’s many linguistic, religious, and cultural connections to shape the political environment. Exploiting the latest communications technologies was vital to the success and survival of many leaders: Egyptian leader Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasser won the hearts, and often the allegiance, of Arabs throughout the Middle East with his inspiring radio broadcasts. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini helped foment a revolution in Iran by spreading cassette tapes of his subversive sermons. Social media and especially satellite television helped spread revolution in the region during the 2010/11 Arab Spring. Regimes that do not control the information space risk being destroyed by it.
The Middle East is far from alone — 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. At least some, notably Russia and China, also use social media covertly to influence foreign audiences, as Russia did in the United States’ 2016 presidential election. Democracies too try to influence foreign audiences via radio, television, and social media, though this is usually more overt, via official government accounts.
The Middle East, however, might be especially prone to foreign influence operations. In addition to intense regional rivalries, the lack of free media in many countries and the distrust of government and institutions make the region conspiracy-prone. This tendency is backed by the widespread knowledge of actual historical conspiracies, including the 1953 Iranian coup that toppled Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, the false pretext of the Suez Crisis in 1956, and myriad attempts by regional governments to weaken and overthrow one another. In addition, shared religious, historical, and linguistic ties, embodied in concepts such as pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism, create transnational bonds and foster vulnerabilities. It is easy for ideas to cross borders, and in so doing they can inspire, frighten, or subvert.
Daniel Byman is a professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Follow @dbyman on Twitter.
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