Social Media Impacts Middle Eastern Politics

By Abby Hodes '25
Over the past few years, social media has become an important platform for activists and youths to voice their opinions. Within politics, one cannot ignore the profound influence social media has come to wield, particularly in the complex and dynamic region of the Middle East. 

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Warfare often occurs in this region, with social media serving as an international battleground for competing narratives, blurring the lines between facts and lies. Posts can be taken out of context or the complete narrative is not accounted for, increasing the risk of spreading disinformation and propaganda.
Social media, following the events of October 7th, has become an outlet filled with biases but lacking filters or sensors and thus had a damaging impact on people's opinions on the Israel-Hamas war. Since the attack, everyone’s social media algorithm has been showing posts that are either pro-Palestinian, pro-Israel, Antisemitic or Islamophobic, which causes people from both sides to become angry and upset. 
People cannot escape what is going on as this conflict is broadcasted everywhere, causing a spike in depression as people are constantly in emotional duress when watching Hamas’s brutal acts of terror on Israel. 
When Israel is in the headlines, antisemitic rhetoric often increases on social media (which is currently happening), and the natural human impulse is to engage and respond to comments which creates a very draining and unproductive cycle as the majority of these opinions will not change. 
“Unfortunately, Israel is waging war both on the front lines and on social media," says junior Nomi Harosh, who discusses the ongoing agony that Israel has had to additionally deal with since October 7th, due to the misinformation on social media.
She adds, “Individuals need to verify their sources before liking, sharing or posting misinformation or propaganda. Social media activity, especially hate speech, leads to hate and violence in real life. Posting false information about the war has consequences. It’s time individuals took responsibility and took their social media more seriously."
Internet users are looking for uncensored reports of a crisis, and live streams provide factual evidence of the reality of the Hamas attacks. However, the footage of innocent Israeli citizens more often leads to propaganda and the exploitation of those individuals. 
Some TikToks trending right now include videos of terrorist propaganda, graphic violence, misleading and outright false claims as well as hate speech. Individuals who view these posts then believe this misinformation; they do not verify the inaccuracies with factual information from news outlets. 
A video CNN posted as an example of TikTok propaganda, viewed more than 100,000 times, shows a clip from the video game “Arma 3” with the caption, “The War of Israel." This is yet another example of how detrimental social media is and how people should not use it as an outlet to receive their education as it is not factual. 
People can read on social media that Israel is an apartheid state (separating people based on racial or ethnic criteria) when, in reality, the two million Israeli Arabs have full equal rights in the country.
Although social media has flaws, it can also be a space for productive dialogue when used responsibly. 
It is an outlet where teen's voices can be heard and can start contributing to politics early on. Advocacy for media literacy and initiatives that promote unbiased reporting are crucial to combat social media propaganda. By taking a stand against the spread of misinformation and actively promoting a culture of fact-checking and dialogue, we can contribute more beneficially to social media and allow for it to positively impact Middle Eastern politics.

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