Twitter’s crackdown on fake accounts exposes Tamim’s fake propaganda

CAIRO – 13 July 2018: Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad, lost a vast number of followers as Twitter sweeps out fake accounts cutting through the micro-blogging website.

Tamim’s followers on Twitter went down from 2.6 million to 231,000, which is considered by observers to be a testament to the false propaganda that he was trying to create.

On Wednesday, Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey said a sweeping purge of the fake accounts will be launched globally; warning that many twitter accounts will see a drop in their followers count.

Qatar’s Tamim bin Hamad has been facing accusations of sponsoring and supporting terrorism; thus, he was embroiled in a diplomatic brawl with the Anti-Terror Quartet of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab of Emirati (UAE).

jack on Twitter

This week we'll be removing locked Twitter accounts (locked when we detect suspicious changes in behavior) from follower counts across profiles globally. The number of followers displayed on many profiles may go down. #health https://t.co/JGmE4ofoZ2

In an unprecedented move, families of Egyptian victims of terrorist attacks filed a lawsuit against Tamim, demanding $150 million in compensation, BBC reported earlier in June.

According to the BBC, this is the first lawsuit of its kind to be filed from residents in an Arab country against an official of another Arab country; the lawsuit is reported to be based on previous judicial rulings that confirm the Qatari regime’s support of the terrorist group operating in Sinai.

The families held the Qatari Emir accountable for the killing of four officers and a civilian during terrorist attacks that previously occurred in Northern Sinai, BBC added.

According to informed sources, "the lawsuit is still awaiting the approval of the higher judicial bodies to be registered in the court," due to the political sensitivity of the issue in light of the diplomatic tussle between Egypt and Qatar.

The lawsuit mentioned the list of the terrorist figures and entities embraced by Qatar; the list was issued by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain in the wake of the diplomatic boycott launched by the Arab Quartet against Doha in June 2017.

Following the Arab boycott of Doha, a list of 13-demands was handed to Doha’s government by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain for reconciliation. The demands included closing Al-Jazeera broadcasting and suspending Qatar's cozy relationship with the extremist government of Iran.

Since then, Qatar has resisted reconciliation attempts, and has not shown any efforts to disassociate itself from the terrorist groups proven to be harbored and financially supported by Doha.