Mohamad Najem

Mohamad Najem is a Lebanese cyber activist and technology policy advocate and coordinator for Bread&Net, specifically targeting oppressive AI on social media. While there is a loud minority in America shouting from congressional podiums that they are being “silenced”, there are people resisting violent oppression whom are actually the victims of oppressive AI algorithms on social media. Why, you may ask? Well this brings us full circle right back to, you guessed it, the “terrorism” excuse. Activists constantly get their protest information or evidence of corruption flagged and taken down due to “terrorist activities” according to Facebook, Twitter, etc. This is uncharted territory for me, I have studied social media in regards to “dark algorithms” and corrupt AI, Middle Eastern activism, and the misuse of the term terrorism, all mutually exclusive of each other. There are Western technology activists fighting for this issue as well, but this is my first time seeing a Middle Eastern activist doing this kind of work and I think it’s so crucial. Social media has become a beacon of hope for the oppressed and a crucial tool for resistance especially in places with censorship, authoritarian rule, and/or police brutality, among many other things. So not only have these social media companies, who tout themselves as being progressive, effectively silenced resistance but they have actually become a tool of oppression themselves.

“We are in a situation where the companies who boosted free expression in our region are the same companies who are now throttling and censoring a lot of the content that is speaking truth to power” - Najem

Media giants claim a legal responsibility to abide by local laws since they classify as businesses—this spells troubling things for many challenging oppression in the region—a clear intersection between postcolonialism, capitalism, and resistance. “Dissidents” can be jailed for a variety of trivialities including “showing support” for an opposing nation, creating “provocative” content, and so on. Governments have also used social media to threaten these people or track them down, similarly they can find anyone connected to that person as well (Hincks,1). Najem makes an excellent point that because in many of these states it is difficult to have an open dialogue, these online spaces are a last bastion for civic space to be had.

Not only is he always bringing awareness to this issue and educating others on things like digital security methods, Najem is directly challenging these oppressive tech policies by organizing events for journalists, hackers, activists, policy-makers, and so on, at an “unconference” he named Bread&Net. Here is a brief statement from the site itself: “Bread&Net is an Arabic-language unconference that will strengthen efforts across the MENA region to defend human rights in digitally networked spaces.” There they discuss resistance strategies that advocate for privacy and against digital security and surveillance in the region. He has also launched Cyrilla, a visual database of new laws that restrict free speech—which he says is just the first phase, the second, harder, phase is challenging them through legal action. He remains optimistic since there is growing support regarding this urgent topic in the region and more people are becoming informed thanks to the efforts of people like him. Suffice it to say that Najem and all of his colleagues face grave consequences should they find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person, but hopefully with a rise in global awareness and solidarity we will not have to worry about that. In a world where Mark Zuckerbergs and Elon Musks exist, it’s extremely reassuring to know that people like Mohamad Najem do as well.

A newer challenge facing digital activism is the propaganda that those in dominant groups are the real victims of online censorship, most of whom are not actually being targeted at all. In fact, according to KXAN news article based on research data in America for example: “a variety of analyses and rankings indicate conservatives enjoy a prominent place on major social media platforms.” The reality is that voices speaking truth to power are becoming targets due to their social media presence and content, some of whom get imprisoned or murdered. I have personally had my content taken down multiple times yet neo-nazis get to freely spread their hateful misinformation and ideology. There have been multiple reports of Black activists and organizers getting their homes invaded by law enforcement because of protest videos from BLM—not so dissimilar to what happened to Tunisian activists because of social media. Palestinian content has been targeted intensely on social media platforms these past two weeks. It is painfully ironic that the people dominating social media platforms are trying to hijack a movement from the people being silenced, it adds insult to injury, and it is absolutely propaganda—funny enough here we are again with the “terrorism” or “hateful or inappropriate content” cop-out that many activists actually get reported or flagged for, but not dangerous extremists for some reason. It just goes to show that much to everyone’s dismay there can be no real “safe spaces” when we are not challenging systems of oppression directly, there is no more room for apathy or complacency or “it doesn’t affect me” sentiments. Postcolonialism, white supremacy, and capitalism invade our everyday lives and whether we care to admit it or not, they are at the forefront of almost every issue we see today. Tying this into American resistance movements being silenced is to portray just how deep these things are interrelated; yes we absolutely should pay attention to, and care about, Middle Eastern, Latin America, Asian, etc. activists being silenced online. Many of the online tactics activists used to protest in the MENA region during Arab Spring in 2011, whether we know it or not, are tactics being utilized online with various global movements as we speak! These movements are not mutually exclusive, they do not happen in vacuums; the faster we all realize that our struggles are more similar than not, the easier it will become to mobilize global solidarity directly challenging oppression.

If you are interesting in learning more about Najem, his intiatives, movement, and coalition, I highly encourage you to visit the Bread&Net website: https://www.breadandnet.org/en.html

1. Falcon, Russell. “Do Facebook and Twitter Silence Conservatives? Data Shows They Actually Dominate.” *KXAN News*, 6 Mar. 2021, www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/do-facebook-and-twitter-silence-conservatives-data-shows-they-actually-dominate.
2. Hincks, Joseph. “A Decade After the Arab Spring, These Activists Are Finding New Ways to Fight for Progress.” *Time*, 12 Jan. 2021, time.com/5926742/arab-spring-decade.