Ahmed Atef and Shaaban Bilal (Cairo)
“Measuring acceptance of the Muslim Brotherhood organization around the world,” which was launched by the “Trends Sectors Alliance” at the “Trends Research and Consulting Center,” revealed the dominance of the anti-Brotherhood orientation on social media sites at a rate of 81.8% of interactions.
The measurement analyzes the view of the pioneers of social media platforms towards the “Brotherhood” organization, during the period from January 1 to December 31, 2023. The measurement also monitors everything that was written about the “Brotherhood”, with the aim of building a measurement about its popularity, in addition to measuring the trends of global public opinion towards the group. .
The report relies on building a “SWOT” analytical model based on 4 main elements, which are strengths, weaknesses, threats, and explaining the opportunities available to deal with the circulation of the “Brotherhood” on social media sites. The measurement analyzed the content of 1.67 million tweets and posts published about the “Brotherhood” organization throughout the past year. These posts were published by 26.6 thousand users, with an average daily publication of 4.56 thousand posts. The results of the general measurement towards the “Brotherhood” reached 46, meaning that it represents a trend closer to negative. .
Sabra Al-Qasimi, founder of the Central Front to Combat Extremism, told Al-Ittihad that the Brotherhood’s efforts to focus on social media sites express their failure on the ground, as the Brotherhood still relies on the paid electronic brigades system and fake accounts to spread their opinions and criticisms.
Sabra explained that the failure of the “Brotherhood” on social media platforms lies in the rise of the voice opposing them in an equation consisting of several basic factors. The most important factor in this equation is the awareness possessed by the Arab and European peoples.
He said: “The first factor is the union of Arab and Islamic countries in confronting the largest terrorist organization in the world.”
Al-Qasimi considered that Arab efforts had succeeded in clarifying the truth about the “Brotherhood,” especially before the West, which considered the organization a peaceful group, which led to a coup in European public opinion against the “Brotherhood.”
In turn, Mustafa Amin Amer, a researcher specializing in extremist groups, said that the terrorist Brotherhood organization was at the forefront in terms of using social media and websites. Amer added in statements to Al-Ittihad that the organization had advanced experience in this field before the Arab countries realized the importance of these means, noting that despite its confrontation with the authorities, the Brotherhood continued to use means of communication to direct its message to the public. He realizes the value of these means in facilitating the transmission of messages and ideas.
Mustafa Amin Amer considered that governments in the region used effective tools to resist the “Brotherhood” organization through social media platforms, which negatively affected its popularity, which is evident in the increased tone of criticism directed at them, due to their negative experience in governance.
In turn, Ahmed Zaghloul, a researcher in the affairs of extremist groups, explained that the widespread use of social networking sites by the terrorist “Brotherhood” is a natural matter and proportional to the developments of the times.
He said: “Since previous eras, the organization has tried to take advantage of all means of communication to express its opinions, present its ideas, and attract supporters to its political and social issues by all available means. Despite the challenges it faced in its actual presence and traditional media, the emergence of social media made it necessary to adapt its discourse.” The organization uses these means to expand its reach, spread its ideas, and attract supporters and adopters of its discourse. Zaghloul pointed out in statements to “Al-Ittihad” that with regard to the discussion about the proposed percentage, it clearly reflects the decline in the popularity of the “Brotherhood” as a result of their use of anti-social media methods in combating religious extremism, based on measures and policies that control the virtual field, in light of the trend. Global politics towards digital policies and digital behavior based on modern technology.
Zaghloul stressed that under the framework of “fighting terrorism and extremism,” it was necessary to use strategies against modern technology used by extremist organizations to spread their ideas and mobilize the masses.
These strategies have emerged through several policies, for example, Facebook, where there are censorship mechanisms that rely on complex algorithms that work jointly to prevent the spread of extremist content. Amr Farouk, a researcher specializing in the affairs of extremist groups, confirmed that the Brotherhood’s reliance on the idea of attracting interaction on the Internet is due to the fact that this organization is one of the first organizations or groups to invest in cyberspace, by establishing what is known as the “Salsabil” company in the nineties. So they had their eye on cyberspace.
He added to Al-Ittihad that the life battle, the intellectual battle, and the organizational framework for the “Brotherhood” since 2011 has been through social media and engaging in what is known as “influencing the collective mind of societies” because of its strong influence, explaining that the organization seeks to direct Public opinion in a centralized framework, or in other words the transition from personal influence to societal influence in general, and this is what they called in one of their stages or organizational plans is the idea of general societal advocacy.
He continued that the state of controversy on social media sites is due to the fact that the “Brotherhood” or extremist groups in general have moved from working in the real practical field to the virtual world, and this creates a state of clash and intertwining with public opinion, whether inside Egypt or outside it in the Arab region.
The Pakistani researcher on extremist groups, Ahmed Al-Quraishi, explained that the Brotherhood organization adopts populism and emotional rhetoric without offering practical solutions.
He said: “In this context, social media sites become an easy tool to encourage anger and tension and direct them against the government, and thus, distract people’s attention and distract them from the fact that the Brotherhood organization does not have realistic solutions, but rather seeks only to overthrow governments and increase its influence at the expense of the state’s interest.” Al-Quraishi pointed out in a statement to Al-Ittihad that the Brotherhood, which seeks to monopolize religion and use it for unknown purposes, is now discovering that social networking sites can turn into a weapon used by others to ask questions about its political role, which is a matter of concern to the organization. Al-Quraishi considered that the decline in the popularity of the Brotherhood, which appears in the results of the Trends Center report, is another indication of the lessons that social media users are learning about the role of extremist organizations in spreading chaos and fake news.
The measurement concluded that October 2023 is considered the month with the most interaction about the “Brotherhood” organization, due to the events in Gaza, and that October 18, 2023 was the day most news was circulated about the “Brotherhood” by 88,912 times, which the measurement attributed to the talk about accusing the French minister. Gerald Darmanin, for former French national team player Karim Benzema, to contact the “Brotherhood”.
According to the measurement, the country most hostile to the “Brotherhood” was France, and the percentage of negative attitude in talk about the organization in America represented 97.4%, and India came with a high percentage of negative attitude amounting to 94.6%, and in Yemen also a negative percentage was 99.5%.
Mounir Adeeb, a researcher specializing in extremist groups, says that the Brotherhood’s use of social networking sites is because they are a large and influential means of mass communication at the same time, adding that the organization has succeeded in inciting chaos and reaching young people through these sites, which are characterized by being more influential over the years. past.
Mounir explained in a statement to Al-Ittihad that social media had previously been used by the organization to spread its ideas, chaos, and distort opponents, stressing that all moral assassination attempts led by the organization against its opponents always used social media.
Adeeb pointed out that there is a state of decline that the organization is going through, not only in the Arab world, but in all countries, pointing out that this trend is related to the disintegration of the organization, the disintegration of its ideas, and the decline of its influence on social media, which was confirmed by the “Trends” study, which relied on Read the organization’s interaction on social media sites.
According to the “Trends” report, the largest percentage of interactions towards the “Brotherhood” – 63.4% – are among those over 44 years old, and they are mostly negative interactions.
Regarding the largest percentage of negative interactions that were for those over 44 years of age, Mounir Adeeb explained that this is due to this group’s understanding and awareness of the danger of the “Brotherhood,” and therefore they began writing on social media based on experience and vision.
Al-Quraishi said, “The older group of users is often more aware of the Brotherhood’s subversive role in Arab and Muslim societies over the past decades, and this is because they understand well the danger of the ideology represented by the organization, and how its activities only reflect its desire to destabilize society and destroy the state.” . Therefore, the negative interaction that the organization is witnessing on social media reflects that greater awareness and understanding of the challenges facing society.”
Amr Farouk explained that the issue of the older generations, or those over their forties, being the most accommodating of the organization, and this is normal, indicating that he began to realize the consequences of the rise of the “Brotherhood” on societal institutions and their rise to power, and it became clear that the “Brotherhood” organization wanted to transform these countries into a group of states. Which follows what was called the concept of the alleged “Caliphate State,” pointing out that these people realized that the organization has no political program, does not have national loyalty, and is not concerned with the fall of states or not, and what was concerned with reaching power.
He said: “This is evident by looking at the countries in which the Brotherhood came to power and entered into crises, including Egypt, which realized early on the danger of the Brotherhood, while it is still facing countries such as Yemen, Libya, and all the countries in which the Brotherhood took the lead in the post-2011 stage.” Major challenges.” According to the “Trends” measurement, the continents with the most anti-Brotherhood orientation on social media sites were Europe, while Africa was the most supportive among the continents.
Mounir Adeeb said that the greatest support for the “Brotherhood” in interaction on social media is on the continent of Africa, and the reason is that that continent has many terrorist organizations, pointing out that some countries on the continent provide a large haven for these organizations. The “Brotherhood” traveled to these countries and resided in them, pointing out that the European street is the opposite and realized the danger of the “Brotherhood.”
Mounir Adeeb stressed that the “Brotherhood” is trying to create injustice. Because they believe that they are gaining sympathy by showing this injustice, and that there is a conspiracy going on against them, pointing out that this speech is a trick that the organization has used all along.
According to Sabra Al-Qasimi, many African countries, especially in Central Africa and West Africa, are still suffering from the influence of terrorist organizations, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, which makes the Brotherhood popular in these countries.
Mustafa Amin Amer explained that the continent of Africa is considered a suitable environment for the spread of the ideas of the terrorist “Brotherhood” and other groups, due to economic and social crises, such as poverty, ignorance, and diseases, which provide an ideal environment for the growth of these groups, which is clearly evident through the spread of ISIS and other groups. Another terrorist on the continent.
The Trends Center’s measurement monitored a gradual escalation of calls to ban the “Brotherhood” in France, and also monitored the dominance of negative interactions in Europe, especially those that indicate the “Brotherhood” is working to incite young people to carry out terrorist operations.
Mustafa Amin Amer explained that in Europe, concerns are focused on immigrants, who feel the negative impact of the “Brotherhood” organization on European society, with increasing awareness of the danger of the terrorist organization’s influence on the mosques frequented by immigrants, as the “Brotherhood” seeks to spread their ideas and attract those who belong to them.
They do not believe in the homeland
Mounir Adeeb said that there is no doubt that these anti-Brotherhood tweets on the “X” platform and other social platforms reflect the vision that the “Brotherhood” does not believe in the homeland, and their loyalty to the organization’s ideas, and this confirms beyond any doubt that The organization has a real problem with the idea of the homeland and belief in it, and therefore people’s realization of the reality of the “Brotherhood” prompted them to write tweets against them.
The percentage of negative sentiment in the conversation about the approach of the terrorist “Brotherhood” organization represented 68.8%, and the interactions focused on several points, including statements by religious scholars about the group stating that it has a deviant approach, distorted the Islamic religion, and its members’ lack of belief in the concept of the homeland, in addition to describing them as “Kharijites.” age”.
While the percentage of positive attitude in talking about the approach of the “Brotherhood” group represented 31.2%, and participants in this attitude used allegations that the terrorist organization’s goal is religion, not power.
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