Rabat – A new report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has shed light on an extensive propaganda campaign being waged by Algerian creators against its neighbor and rival Morocco as part of the country’s broader foreign policy agenda.
This campaign is being carried out largely on social media platforms like YouTube, where dozens of channels are peddling anti-Morocco narratives to hundreds of thousands of Algerian subscribers.
While Algeria’s constitution guarantees press freedom, such liberties have been increasingly restricted, with the last independent Algerian news outlet shut down in December 2022. However, as MEMRI’s report documents, trolling and trash-talking Morocco while glorifying Algeria’s military prowess seems not only allowed by the authorities, but actively encouraged.
The report’s author and MEMRI’s vice president, Alberto M. Fernandez describes the channels as “seemingly amateur (or amateurish)” but notes that they closely adhere to and promote Algerian foreign policy objectives, especially hostility towards Morocco. Their content ranges from “vulgar” and “mocking” attacks on the Moroccan monarchy to exaggerated claims about Algeria’s military capabilities.
Fanning the flames
The roots of the conflict between Morocco and Algeria run deep, with tensions over disputed borders and regional influence going back decades. However, in recent years propaganda attacks against Morocco have sharply escalated. Algeria has closed almost all independent domestic media outlets, but freely permits and even encourages anti-Morocco rhetoric.
Beyond the major pro-regime Algerian media outlets, the report analysed several popular YouTube channels and influencers promoting similar anti-Moroccan rhetoric.
Popular YouTube channels like “Ibendawla”, “Algeria Here,” “Algeria Tech,” and “Reality News” have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. They incessantly highlight Algeria’s ties with Russia, praise its arms purchases, and mock Morocco for aligning with the West.
Channels brand themselves as “political news” but openly state their mission is “the defense of Algeria.”
One video, according to the report, gloated about Morocco “failure” to convince the U.S. to sanction Algeria over its Russian connections.
The most popular channel highlighted by the report is “MEDIA dz,” which boasts over one million subscribers. Its 3,300 videos have racked up a staggering 243 million total views since 2017.
Content generally focuses on glorifying Algeria and its army while lambasting alleged “enemies” like France, the US, Israel, and above all, Morocco. Any country deemed hostile to Algeria, from France to the UAE, is fair game for criticism, adds the report.
The report notes that Morocco is frequently referred to not by its Arabic name “Al-Maghreb” but simply as just “Al-Maroc”. The content and tone seem tailored to appeal to the TikTok generation, “with a short attention span and a voracious appetite for sensationalistic content.”
Jocular and juvenile
While dealing with serious geopolitical issues, the tone of these YouTube channels is often “jocular and juvenile,” Fernandez notes in the report.
The visual style and graphics are decidedly informal and bold, with predominant use of bright colors and unflattering photos of disliked leaders like King Mohammed VI, giving them an almost comic book or graphic novel aesthetic. The content seems tailored to appeal to a young male demographic versed in internet culture.
The MEMRI report suggests these outlets provide a vital service for Algeria’s government – distracting citizens, especially youth facing high unemployment, with exaggerated foreign threats and anti-Moroccan hysteria.
Fernandez suggests that the intended audience is not so much Moroccans, but Algerian citizens themselves. With high youth unemployment in a country that has 30% of its population under 25, stoking popular nationalism and foreign threats makes for a useful distraction. It also inculcates the population with regime-approved narratives.
Ominous trajectory
The report comes amidst deteriorating relations between the two Maghrebi neighbors.
Last Tuesday, the Algerian News Agency issued a strongly worded statement targeting Morocco and accusing media outlets –which it said are affiliated with the Moroccan royal palace – of publishing “fake news” about Algeria and the Algerian elections.
For its part, Morocco has largely refrained from responding in kind to the social media barbs. But with billions in Russian arms flowing into Algeria, fears are rising that its leaders could miscalculate and unleash a wider regional war. The US and its allies such as France would likely be drawn into such a conflict, leaving the Maghreb region deeply destabilized.
Such propaganda primes Algerians psychologically for potential conflict, warns Fernandez in the conclusion of the MEMRI report.
Such narratives may serve short-term domestic purposes, but make the dream of a stable, peaceful North Africa seem ever more distant.
Read also: Italy Slams Algerian Propaganda, Commends Morocco’s Efforts on Sahara Dispute
