Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
For over a decade, Russia’s immediate neighborhood has been subject to the vagaries of the Kremlin’s cyber operations. Russia has effectively used cyberspace to advance its adversarial goals, be it through combining cyberattacks with military action during its war with Georgia, or targeting essential power grids in Ukraine. Advancing its cyber capabilities has enabled Russia to reassert its status as a superpower and hit targets anywhere in the world. In recent years, as the use of social media grew, the information war in cyberspace became the Kremlin’s primary tool for discrediting its perceived archenemy: “The West.” The Middle East, with its increasing dependence on social media for news, has also fallen prey to Moscow’s disinformation campaigns. Russia’s main disinformation narratives in the region stem from its Soviet-inherited superpower complex and its broader strategic imperatives on the international stage.
Over the past decade, social media and communications platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp have emerged as important spaces for civil society, journalists, and everyday people in the Middle East to express themselves and organize. However, users’ experiences on these platforms often differ as platforms’ enforcement of their content policies varies by geography, language of use, and context. These flaws in the content moderation system can harm users residing in and around the Middle East, as well as those who use Middle Eastern languages such as Arabic.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
In a landscape of suppression and retaliation against Palestinian journalists and activists at the hands of Israel, social media networks have been at once critical organizing platforms and tools for exacerbating censorship.
On Sept. 15, 2020, the world witnessed a new era of Israeli-Arab relations as the UAE and Bahrain opened diplomatic relations with Israel, in what is known as the Abraham Accords. Unlike the Israeli-Egyptian or the Israeli-Jordanian peace deals, which aimed to end direct military confrontations, the Abraham Accords seek to maximize common interests and address security issues to form a new front against Iranian threats. As Biden’s administration shows a willingness to return to some form of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the joint cooperation between Israel and the Gulf states is becoming more visible than ever, particularly in cyberspace, where they share a common enemy.
Sarah Johansson and Mohammed Soliman join guest host Mike Sexton to discuss the various legal, technical, and environmental challenges of cryptocurrencies in the region, among others.
The 5G technology revolution is poised to change society irreversibly in the Middle East. The evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) powered by 5G networks could prove life-enhancing. Already, the Gulf countries have led the way in adopting 5G technology in the region and the rollout of 5G showcases the Gulf’s new role as a leader in digital technology. Although the Gulf countries have made strides to be global tech leaders, their neighbors in the region seriously lag behind in their abilities to adopt large-scale 5G technology. This disparity will further deepen the divides in development between the Gulf and the rest of MENA. Looking to the future, the Gulf will surely pull ahead as the tech hub of the region, but there are still important benefits for the rest of the region to reap as they slowly adopt next generation technology.
Since the normalization of UAE-Israel relations was first announced, much of the international commentary only focused on the deal’s political and diplomatic significance. However, the deal will create a new digital order in the Middle East, one in which Israel and the UAE will partner more closely than ever in developing emerging technologies and cyber capabilities. This cooperation will be at the forefront of this UAE-Israel tech order.
Around the world, there is ongoing debate over the extent to which speech should be regulated for the common good. Facebook has been a key battleground in this debate. Indeed, since nearly its founding day, the company has struggled with the degree to which it bears responsibility for the content that its users post on the platform, including but not limited to, the glorification of violence, incitement to terrorism, and false and misleading political content. In 2020, the company officially launched the Facebook Oversight Board, a trust-based body composed of 40 members and tasked with passing final, binding rulings upon Facebook’s content moderation decisions.
Under mounting pressure to define and execute its foreign policy to “restore U.S credibility,” the Biden administration needs to carefully consider its focal points in the Middle East, especially in light of the region’s recent realignment following the signing of the Abraham Accords. Luckily, through cyber diplomacy and norm setting, the administration can restore its credibility without abandoning its core ideals, while also nurturing relationships in the Middle East and beyond. Such cyber diplomacy could involve both engaging with partners to strengthen rules-based frameworks around acceptable state behavior in cyberspace and using cyber to leverage wider diplomatic aims.
When headlines flashed this month about the Peshawar High Court’s decision in Pakistan to yet again ban the controversial video-sharing app TikTok, you might have been tempted to scroll away in boredom. After all, who hasn’t banned TikTok these days?
Close observers of policy trends in the GCC will notice that digital transformation and data governance are becoming vital issues in the region. Over the last decade, Gulf countries have introduced ambitious plans to digitally transform their public and private sectors, with the goal of providing reliable, rapid, and efficient public and private services.
On Feb. 9, 2021, the UAE made history when its Hope Probe reached Mars and communicated back to Earth. This made it just the sixth member of the elite group of countries that have reached the Red Planet, and the first Arab nation to do so. The UAE stressed that the Mars mission is a success for all Arabs and this significant scientific feat positions Abu Dhabi not just as a leader in the Middle East, but also as an important global player in space.
Recent moves by Chinese tech giants have raised concerns in Washington about Beijing’s technological outreach to developing nations. To stem the international growth of these companies, the U.S. has discouraged countries from adopting Chinese technologies through efforts like promoting the Clean Network Initiative. Countries across the globe often must choose between Chinese or Western technology, and these choices have broad implications.