>>2942231I Emergence From October 2023How it startedIn October 2023, Billboards began popping up around Lebanon with the slogan 'Lebanon does not want war". Many of them were sponsored by a non-existent front entity called 'One Peace Global'.
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The Lebanon Campaign
Meanwhile, accounts on X, TikTok, YouTube, Telegram and Facebook — with names including لا للإحتلال الإيراني (“No to the Iranian Occupation”), الشيعة ضد الحرب (“Shia Against the War”) and حرب ٢٠٠٦ تنذكر وما تنعاد (“Remember the 2006 War — Don’t Let It Happen Again”) — were pushing another message in Lebanon. They blamed Iran and Hezbollah for the war and accused them of dragging Lebanon into the conflict. Regardless of one's views on Hezbollah, Israel was conspicuously absent from the story.
Anti-Iran / Hezbollah campaign content targeting Lebanon Anti-Iran / Hezbollah campaign content targeting Lebanon Anti-Iran / Hezbollah campaign content targeting Lebanon Anti-Iran / Hezbollah campaign content targeting Lebanon
Then, after an initial run targeting ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, paid Facebook ads started to appear across Europe targeting Sheikha Moza, the mother of Qatar’s Emir. They called on her to use her supposed influence to secure the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. This happened at the same time Israel's influence industry were planning an operation to smear Qatar in order to pressure Hamas to release hostages.
Boycott QatarThe attacks on Qatar quickly expanded. Soon the paid web and Facebook ads were calling for boycotts of some of the country's most recognisable investments and companies: PSG, Harrods and Qatar Airways. The campaign was trying to make Qatar toxic, in Europe and the United States, at a time when they were mediating between Hamas and Israel.
The new 'Great Replacement Theory' Then the rhetoric took a more sinister turn. Ads began warning that Qatar was “Islamising” Europe. Muslims, immigration to Europe and Qatar were increasingly bundled together as part of the same supposed threat. Slogans like 'Invade, Influence, Islamicize' were used. The narrative closely resembled the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory: the idea that white European populations are being deliberately replaced by non-white, often Muslim, immigrants. But here Qatar was cast in the role that far-right variants of the conspiracy have often assigned to figures such as George Soros in similar antisemitic conspiracy theories: the hidden financier and architect of demographic replacement
Qonspiracy, Qatarsis, & Doha DirtThe campaign names were bizarre. Examples included 'Qonspiracy', 'Qataracte', 'Qatarsis', 'Made in Qatar ', 'The Rotten Emir', and 'Doha Dirt'. Each had its own branding and social media presence, as though dozens of tiny anti-Qatar groups had suddenly sprung into existence organically. This was astroturfing, designed to give the illusion of widespread organic sentinment.
They make documentariesSome ads went much further than memes and short videos. A number of channels produced multi-part video “documentaries” about alleged Qatari scandals, complete with narration, graphics and dramatic editing. Others, like "Cities' Stories" did profiles of how European cities or neighbourhoods like Malmo, Bradford, La Gouette d'Or were being Islamised. These were then chopped up and pushed across social media, reaching millions.
A fake media ecosystemSome pages looked like tabloids. Others resembled activist groups, campaign organisations or investigative outlets. Many also opportunistically pushed the narrative that antisemitism at American Universities was being pushed by Qatar.
And it keeps spreadingThe campaign moved across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Wikipedia, YouTube and X. Telegram channels appeared too. New accounts and brands kept popping up, while the same material sometimes was cross posted. Some of the campaigns had names like the 'Plot vs Europe', heavily leaning into conspiratorial theme of the Islamisation of Europe.
Wikipedia VandalismWebsites belonging to the campaign like shameqatar.com were used to vandalise Wikipedia by suspicious looking accounts. A sockpuppet network connected to the campaign even managed to create wikipedia page called "Qatari Soft Power".