Major Israel-Linked Disinformation Campaign Targeting Muslims and Migrants in 30 Countries Exposed
Major Israel-Linked Disinformation Campaign Targeting Muslims and Migrants in 30 Countries Exposed
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A large-scale disinformation campaign targeting Muslims and migrants across 30 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East has been exposed.
The campaign, reportedly linked to Israel-based organizations, is estimated to have operated between October 2023 and October 2026, with an advertising budget of approximately $8.2 million and hundreds of millions of online impressions.
The findings were published in a report titled The Great Replacement Industry, prepared by Associate Professor Marc Owen Jones, a media analyst at Northwestern University in Qatar, and Sohan Dsouza, a technology and social sciences specialist in open-source intelligence. According to the report, the campaign used paid social media advertisements, artificial intelligence-generated videos and songs, as well as video game parodies to promote anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant narratives. Researchers documented 1,473 Facebook advertisements, 189 YouTube videos, 359 TikTok advertisements and 105 additional videos published through TikTok accounts. The documented material generated approximately 533 million views and impressions, a figure that could reach 831 million when missing archived advertisements are taken into account.
The report identified Qatar as one of the campaign’s primary targets, with fabricated claims portraying the country as orchestrating Muslim migration to Europe and seeking to Islamize the continent. Other content promoted anti-Iranian and anti-Hezbollah narratives in relation to Lebanon. An analysis of 406 comments on Facebook advertisements published in the United Kingdom in 2024 found that 61 percent supported anti-Muslim views, while 19 percent opposed them.
Investigators also identified technical traces, including Hebrew-language folder and drive names and digital production records, which they said provided moderate-to-high confidence that the campaign originated in the geographical area where the Israeli regime is based. Some campaign materials were also found to have passed through former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation executive Johnnie Moore and public relations firm JDA Worldwide.
However, the report stressed that the ultimate clients behind the operation and the identities of its financiers could not be conclusively established. Researchers called on social media companies to strengthen advertiser verification, scrutinize political propaganda disguised as ordinary advertising, and take more effective action against coordinated disinformation networks.
