In the past ten years, I analyzed more than 3 million tweets, posts, and WhatsApp messages related to Lebanon’s social and political crises.
Here are some of the key insights I’ve gathered:
- Bot networks and automation were used to flood platforms and push trending hashtags. These tactics didn’t necessarily change public opinion but created the illusion of dominant narratives, overshadowing genuine discussions.
- Massive social media advertising during elections—budgets reached up to $4 per video, often for just the first 3 seconds of viewer engagement.
- Emotionally charged content (fearmongering, accusations, public shaming, fake or unverified news) overwhelmingly shaped political discourse—up to 90% of political content was emotional and lacked a rational or fact-based foundation.
- Complete reversals in political positions occurred before and after elections, even among so-called independent candidates.
- Use of proxy voices, influencers and authority figures was widespread to manufacture a false sense of popular consensus (the “majority illusion”).
- Fake accounts were systematically deployed as the initial sources of false information and deleted afterwards to prevent traceability and accountability (fake news washing).
- Foreign-based accounts played an active role in electoral interference, posting massively with or against specific political groups.
- Organized groups with defined strategic functions operated behind the scenes to influence public sentiment and online discourse.
In my opinion, during the most recent municipal elections, political actors refrained from fully deploying their digital arsenal. For 2026, despite the shift in political power – or at least the significant changes in Lebanese politics, we can expect a significant escalation in the use of AI-generated bots, synthetic content, and deepfakes.
The core issue with social media is not the candidates themselves but the content being disseminated. Campaign regulations should focus not on candidate accounts, but on the nature, origin and authenticity of the content, regardless of who shares it—be it influencers, proxies, or paid/unpaid supporters.