Disinformation: A Case Study of the Qatari Twittersphere

The goal of this research is to uncover how knowledgeable the Qatari public is of disinformation taking place on social networking sites. The idea is to understand whether the population is able to identify false information that is aimed to deceive them. This will allow us to look at the current perspective of both the residents and citizens of the State of Qatar and discuss next steps accordingly. The tool used is a respondent-based questionnaire that was distributed online via social networking sites. The questionnaire was in both English and Arabic and solicited 116 responses. The results showed that the respondents depended on social media to get their news. It is evident that they are aware that false content is disseminated online, however their sharing habits show that if the piece of information is created by a verified account they are more likely to share it. With the start of the illegal blockade against the State of Qatar in 2017, the quartet of countries including KSA, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain; a myriad of information was spread through Twitter. The years that followed only increased the number of subjects that were spread. This indicates the need for people who live in the State of Qatar to know how to identify messaging that is meant to deceive them. The need to focus on media literacy is evident as the respondents are not able to identify bot accounts. There is a lack of understanding of the various types of false information that is wrongly categorized as fake news. Being media literate will allow for people to identify the type and intent of information that they are exposed to.