In March, Coda Story’s Burhan Wazir wrote about the surge of disinformation against Qatar in the wake of Covid-19, following an attack from fake Twitter profiles and bot accounts spreading conspiracy theories about the country and the virus.

The Gulf country is under a disinformation attack once again. According to a Daily Beast investigation released earlier this week, fake journalist personas published “Middle East hot takes” in op-eds for 46 different right-leaning publications, including Newsmax and Washington Examiner. Many of the articles criticized Qatar and heaped praise on the United Arab Emirates, while pushing for a tougher line on Iran and Turkey. 

The digital propaganda campaign used stolen avatars and AI-generated headshots to create fictitious authors. The avatars employed photos of real people but cropped and mirror image reversed the pictures in an attempt to thwart detection. Fake biographies, academic credentials, LinkedIn profiles, and Twitter accounts added plausibility. 

The Daily Beast investigation revealed that the network of fabricated contributors endorsed similar viewpoints in more than 90 articles: criticism of Qatar’s state-funded news outlet, Al Jazeera, a demand for stricter sanctions against Iran, and praise for the United Arab Emirates’ response to Covid-19.