“Electronic Flies” and the Battle of Awareness

The unprecedented interaction with the campaign launched on August 25, 2024 against the so-called “electronic flies,” and the amazing results achieved, reflect the sincere desire of Arab and Gulf societies to confront and eradicate fake accounts, as they have become a direct threat to social cohesion and the safety of the digital space, especially since they promote topics that raise doubts and publish images and ideas that spread division.

The campaign achieved record numbers, as the hashtag “Report_without_comment” topped the list of “trends” of the most popular topics on social media for days, exceeding 32 million exchanges in its first days alone, and the number is still increasing continuously, which clearly indicates the strength of the campaign and the momentum of interaction from media professionals and tweeters from all over the world, whose efforts joined forces to spread awareness about how to confront electronic flies and eradicate them from the digital space. The confrontation was not limited to official bodies or influential figures, but rather turned within a week into a comprehensive community effort in which everyone participated from all segments of society, led by media professionals and tweeters, which clearly indicates that standing up to these accounts is not difficult, but rather easy and possible.

Now, we can say that the campaign against electronic flies is no longer just a passing move, but has become a symbol of society’s desire to maintain its unity and protect it from attempts at division, after these “flies” have turned into a major tool for creating lies, distracting societies and creating divisions, taking advantage of modern technology to manage social media platforms and influence public opinion, relying on a set of advanced technical tools to attract attention and influence the public. Perhaps the most prominent of these tools are advanced algorithms, which increase the appearance of emotionally provocative content, such as anger or fear, with the aim of enhancing interaction with misleading content. Here lies the danger of this type of content that reaches a wide audience, even if the majority does not agree with the message sent. Misleading accounts also use what are known as “echo chambers”, which are closed digital environments in which the same ideas and opinions are amplified and repeated, which may make users feel that these ideas represent public opinion, even though the truth may be completely different. One of the most prominent uses of electronic flies is what is called “emotional trolling”, where content with a strong emotional nature is created to attract the audience’s attention through exciting titles and emotional images, which leads to sharing the content without verifying its authenticity, which contributes to the rapid spread of rumors. In addition to all of this, these accounts widely use electronic robots (Bots) to repost tweets and articles, which may make false content appear as if it is real due to its repetition and wide spread on various platforms. In the face of the cunning use of these advanced tools, the “Report_Without_Comment” initiative came as an effective means of dealing with electronic flies, as the basic idea of ​​this initiative lies in blocking fake or misleading accounts without interacting with them. Instead of entering into fruitless discussions or giving these accounts the opportunity to spread, the user can simply use the block option to get rid of these accounts without leaving any comment.

The aim of this initiative is to reduce the organic spread of misleading content, as any interaction, even if it is critical, contributes to enhancing the appearance of misleading content and increasing its spread among users, while “silent blocking” has become an effective tool in reducing the impact of electronic flies. To contribute effectively to this campaign, there are some steps that can be followed, including: Identifying misleading accounts, as it is possible to distinguish between accounts that seek to spread chaos through excessive repetition patterns of misleading messages and emotionally provocative content.

In addition, the Block option can be used. Once fake or misleading accounts are identified, they should be blocked immediately without interacting with them, to ensure that their content does not spread further. We also recommend avoiding interacting, responding, or advertising with these accounts because this increases the visibility of their content to other users, so you should avoid interacting with their posts at all. We also urge you to report misleading accounts, and if these accounts publish harmful information or violate platform policies, you can report them to ensure that appropriate action is taken against them.

In conclusion, we believe that the most important thing that the campaign has proven is that collective efforts can bring about real change in the cyberspace, and that with the continuous support of the wise leadership, media professionals, tweeters, and society as a whole, we can confront this phenomenon and protect ourselves and our communities from the negative effects of electronic flies. The campaign is not just a battle against fake accounts, but rather a battle to maintain integrity and awareness in the digital space.

*Head of the National Media Office.

Published simultaneously with Al-Riyadh newspaper.