Tunisia has stunned observers with the rise of a president with authoritarian tendencies and the seeming ongoing disintegration of democratic institutions. In Libya, stalled elections are fuelling a political power play between local and regional elites who rely on affiliated media and social media outlets for their messaging. In Egypt, social media influencers have turned out to be fashionable regime allies for the Sisi regime. To what extent has disinformation played in shaping these developments?

In this panel, our expert speakers will identify three main trends of disinformation they see with regard to their specific country expertise as well as at the broader regional level. They will seek to answer some of the following questions: Who are the main actors producing and/or spreading disinformation? Which platforms are most affected and how? How are the local populations affected (and fighting back)? What repercussions might this have for the West? Has the war in Ukraine affected the information environment?

After short talks by all speakers, we will open for Q&A. The event will be followed by a reception.

SPEAKERS

• Jasmine el Gamal (ISD Global) Jasmine is a senior manager for Africa, Middle East and Asia (AMEA) at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). Previously, Jasmine was a senior fellow with the Middle East program at the Atlantic Council, where she focused primarily on US policies in the Middle East.
  
  
• Anas el Gomati (Sadeq Institute) Anas is the founder and current director general of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute, the first public policy think tank in Libya's history established in August 2011. He is a frequent commentator on Libya and the MENA region.
  
  
• Dr Dounia Mahlouly (SOAS London) Dounia is a lecturer at SOAS and the principal investigator of a 2020 research project on communication for resilience funded by British Council, which explores the role of media capacity initiatives as a tool for communicative resilience in Tunisia and Lebanon. She is also the founder of the Middle East Research Hub a non-profit association, which promotes the work of young analysts and freelance researchers.
  
  
• Dr Inga Trauthig (King's College London) Inga is a senior research fellow at the Propaganda Research Lab at UT Austin and an affiliate fellow with the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) at King’s College London (KCL). She completed her PhD at the Department of War Studies at KCL focusing on post-Qaddafi Libya.