Marc Owen Jones
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marcowenjones.bsky.social
Marc Owen Jones
@marcowenjones.bsky.social
Associate Professor Northwestern University in Qatar | Studies Disinfo, Digital Repression & Gulf Politics | Author Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East (Hurst & OUP) Political Repression in Bahrain (Cambridge University Press) | Cat Fancier
Pinned
From my latest. "Even now, my colleagues are debating whether it is safe to attend conferences in the United States after a French scientist was denied entry because border agents found private communications criticizing the Trump administration’s research policy". direct.mit.edu/daed/article...
Lessons from the Digital Coalface in the Post-Truth Age: Researching the Middle East Amid Authenticity Vacuums, Transnational Repression & Disinformation
Drawing on thirteen years of personal experience researching Middle Eastern politics, I examine how digitality has eroded traditional boundaries between safety and danger, public and private, and demo...
direct.mit.edu
New review of my book 'Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East' by Clarissa Conner in Critical Studies in Media Communication

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
November 10, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Is the role of academic publishing now to provide structured and reliable training data for LLMs? Asking for a friend #AcademicChatter
November 10, 2025 at 11:33 AM
1/ For the benefit of Lisa Nandy - I have transcribed this interview with Chief Superintendent Tom Joyce from West Midland's police, and SkyNews. Contrary to Lisa Nandy' spin, he is clear, the threat TO THE MACCABI TV FANS was not the primary driver for the ban
November 10, 2025 at 7:10 AM
My comments in this piece by Al Jazeera

“If you can create enough online noise, through either social media or highly ranked websites, you’re able to influence AI’s large language models [like ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok],”

www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...

#gaza
November 8, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Marc Owen Jones
Remember the Hillel BC‘Contractor’ Who Spread “I ❤️ Hamas” Stickers Framing the SJC at UBC? Turns Out He Had Been Hillel BC’s Advocacy Officer & President of UBC’s 'Israel on Campus' marcowenjones.substack.com/p/remember-t...
Remember the Hillel BC‘Contractor’ Who Spread “I ❤️ Hamas” Stickers Framing the SJC at UBC? Turns Out He Had Been Hillel BC’s Advocacy Officer & President of UBC’s 'Israel on Campus'
A BC Supreme Court ruling reveals how a former Hillel BC advocacy officer orchestrated a deceptive Hamas-smear hoax that triggered threats, fear, and a failed defamation case.
marcowenjones.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Remember the Hillel BC‘Contractor’ Who Spread “I ❤️ Hamas” Stickers Framing the SJC at UBC? Turns Out He Had Been Hillel BC’s Advocacy Officer & President of UBC’s 'Israel on Campus' marcowenjones.substack.com/p/remember-t...
Remember the Hillel BC‘Contractor’ Who Spread “I ❤️ Hamas” Stickers Framing the SJC at UBC? Turns Out He Had Been Hillel BC’s Advocacy Officer & President of UBC’s 'Israel on Campus'
A BC Supreme Court ruling reveals how a former Hillel BC advocacy officer orchestrated a deceptive Hamas-smear hoax that triggered threats, fear, and a failed defamation case.
marcowenjones.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Dear Marc (if I may)

YOU CERTAINLY MAY NOT.

Joking.

You may.

#academicchatter
November 3, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Reposted by Marc Owen Jones
🧵 1/ Search For Your Church! And see if it has been targeted by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...

#gazagenocide #propaganda
November 1, 2025 at 1:41 PM
🧵 1/ Search For Your Church! And see if it has been targeted by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...

#gazagenocide #propaganda
November 1, 2025 at 1:41 PM
ICYMI: RAG Poisoning? How Google's Gemini AI is Learning Pro-Israel Disinformation From Social Media marcowenjones.substack.com/p/how-google...
How Google's Gemini AI is Learning Pro-Israel Disinformation From Social Media
A fake quote attributed to Hamas official Khalil Al Hayya is being regurgitated by Gemini AI
marcowenjones.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 9:25 AM
ICYMI
New substack: Al-Generated US Congressman Fuels False Claims of Somaliland Recognition

A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...
AI-Generated US Congressman Fuels False Claims of Somaliland Recognition
A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:38 AM
New substack: Al-Generated US Congressman Fuels False Claims of Somaliland Recognition

A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...
AI-Generated US Congressman Fuels False Claims of Somaliland Recognition
A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:42 AM
🎥New Episode: "Iran is Down, Not Out"

I speak with Sanam Vakil, Director of the Middle East and Africa Programme at Chatham House, about the Twelve-Day War between Israel and Iran and its impacts on Iran’s nuclear program.

youtu.be/Dcjmzptf3Kc
Iran is Down, Not Out | With Sanam Vakil
YouTube video by ME Council
youtu.be
October 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
AI is learning disinfo. A fake quote about Hamas spread on X… and now Google’s Gemini is repeating it as fact.
From rumour → news → “AI truth.”

Read how it happened

How Google’s Gemini AI is Learning Pro-Israel Disinformation From Social Media

open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...

#Dysinfluence
How Google's Gemini AI is Learning Pro-Israel Disinformation From Social Media
A fake quote attributed to Hamas official Khalil Al Hayya is being regurgitated by Gemini AI
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:33 AM
New Analysis: How Google's Gemini Al is Learning Pro-Israel #Disinformation From Social Media

"The fact that LLMs so readily and rapidly reproduce disinformation based on a few unsupported viral rumours on social media, ratified by a questionable news source, is alarming"

#gazagenocide
October 15, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Marc Owen Jones
🚨1/ Has your church been targeted by millions of dollars of propaganda paid for by the Israeli government?

Use this tool to find out!

I have created a dashboard with a map of all churches that are potential targets of this campaign.

public.tableau.com/views/Toolto... #gazagenocide
October 9, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Marc Owen Jones
Our plane to Spain is in the air!

🙌🙌

Thank you so much to the countless people supporting us in every way and in particular all of the Rutgers students and faculty who have supported us every step of the way.
October 10, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Marc Owen Jones
Spoke with cnn while sitting on the floor of my hotel room hallway bc my family were asleep in the other room.
6a E Mark.mp4 - 6a E Mark - Frame.io
next.frame.io
October 9, 2025 at 11:22 AM
🚨1/ Has your church been targeted by millions of dollars of propaganda paid for by the Israeli government?

Use this tool to find out!

I have created a dashboard with a map of all churches that are potential targets of this campaign.

public.tableau.com/views/Toolto... #gazagenocide
October 9, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Another new post! Doctor Doctor Give Me The Fake News: AI-Powered Medic From Ohio Tweeting Propaganda About Sudan, Israel and European Migration
How a verified fake doctor on X spread AI-generated propaganda about Gaza and Sudan marcowenjones.substack.com/p/doctor-doc... #Disinformation
Doctor Doctor Give Me The Fake News: AI-Powered Medic From Ohio Tweeting Propaganda About Sudan, Israel and European Migration
How a verified fake doctor on X spread AI-generated propaganda about Gaza and Sudan
marcowenjones.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Marc Owen Jones
Taking a look at this from @marcowenjones.bsky.social on Sudan's social media and AI.
Part of your information landscape is very likely fake and designed to influence you. Read @marcowenjones.bsky.social 's investigations to begin grasping the extent. marcowenjones.substack.com/p/nobody-tal...
October 6, 2025 at 10:39 AM
New investigation. "Nobody Talks Like This: Meet 50 AI-Powered Propaganda Accounts in Sudan's Social Media War"

How 50 AI-generated accounts are flooding Twitter with pro-UAE and anti-Muslim (Brotherhood) propaganda on Sudan's civil war

marcowenjones.substack.com/p/nobody-tal... #disinformation
October 6, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Marc Owen Jones
Part of your information landscape is very likely fake and designed to influence you. Read @marcowenjones.bsky.social 's investigations to begin grasping the extent. marcowenjones.substack.com/p/nobody-tal...
October 6, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Marc Owen Jones
Fascinating insights on Israel’s influence operations in the US, costing millions. Particularly striking is how the contracts openly talk about the usage of bots to “flood the zone”
Summary of some of the government of Israel's $8 million spend in the US in the past few months to serve propaganda to gen Z, manipulate AI, co-copt influencers, and flood the zone with bots open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...
October 6, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Summary of some of the government of Israel's $8 million spend in the US in the past few months to serve propaganda to gen Z, manipulate AI, co-copt influencers, and flood the zone with bots open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...
October 6, 2025 at 6:34 AM