Digital deception is the new face of information warfare. Social media has been weaponised by states and commercial entities alike, as bots and trolls proliferate and users are left to navigate an infodemic of fake news and disinformation.
In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Fellow Tony Roberts interviews Marc Jones, Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar. Marc is author of the book: Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation and Social Media.
In the podcast, Marc discusses a global web of shadowy actors in the service of digital rights in the Middle East and what it means for citizen rights in that region.
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About the author
Marc Owen Jones is Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar, where he researches disinformation and digital media. He holds a PhD in Government and International Affairs from Durham University and has published extensively on Gulf politics and media.
About the interviewer
Dr. Tony Roberts is a Research Fellow in the Digital and Technology cluster at the Institute of Development Studies. He has been working at the intersection of digital technologies, international development and social justice since 1988 as a volunteer, lecturer, practitioner, trustee and researcher.
About the book
A probing study of how the Gulf’s authoritarian regimes hoodwink citizens across the world in digital propaganda wars.
Digital deception is the new face of information warfare. Social media has been weaponised by states and commercial entities alike, as bots and trolls proliferate and users are left to navigate an infodemic of fake news and disinformation. In the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East, where authoritarian regimes continue to innovate and adapt in the face of changing technology, online deception has reached new levels of audacity.
From pro-Saudi entities that manipulate the tweets of the US president, to the activities of fake journalists and Western PR companies that whitewash human rights abuses, Marc Owen Jones’ meticulous investigative research uncovers the full gamut of tactics used by Gulf regimes and their allies to deceive domestic and international audiences. In an age of global deception, this book charts the lengths bad actors will go to when seeking to impose their ideology and views on citizens around the world.
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