“A lot of queer individuals are using digital platforms so it’s important now to ensure their safety on these platforms,” Doumit Azzi, the Communications Coordinator at Helem tells us. Established in 2001, Helem is the first organisation in the Middle East that advocates for the rights of LGBTQI people.
With authorities and individuals in the MENA region now using social media and dating apps to entrap, arrest, blackmail and harass LGBTQI individuals, Helem in partnership with organisations such as Human Rights Watch are calling on big tech companies to do more to ensure the safety of LGBTQI people on these apps.
One of the stories shared by Human Rights Watch was from Amr, a 33-year-old gay man from Egypt.
Amr was contacted by a Facebook account pretending to be his friend and asking to meet him in 2018. When Amr arrived at their meeting spot, he started getting sceptical when his “friend” asked what he was wearing. But when he tried turning back, four police officers in civilian attire appeared and arrested him.
Amr was eventually charged with “inciting debauchery” and detained for two months based on “evidence” police planted on his phone.
We spoke with Doumit about their campaign ‘Secure Our Socials’, why this is happening in the MENA region and the work that needs to be done to prevent more LGBTQI people from being victims of digital targeting.
You’ve launched a campaign called ‘Secure Our Socials’ in partnership with Human Rights Watch. Could you tell us more about this campaign?
So this campaign called ‘Secure Our Socials’ is a direct collaboration between ourselves, Damj Association, INSM Foundation for Digital Rights, and Social Media Exchange (SMEX), with the main actor in this campaign being Human Rights Watch. The aim of the campaign is to enhance the policies of the big tech companies, especially Meta with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
In the past two years, we found that the authorities in countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, are using social media platforms and dating apps, to entrap queer individuals and arrest them. Plus, a lot of non-state actors are using this platform to entrap and blackmail the individual, either to stalk them or to expose their identity.
We reported so many cases of this happening. We found that the policies of tech companies are not enough to ensure the security and safety of the queer individuals on this platform. So, that’s why we have launched this campaign.
We exchanged a lot of thoughts with Meta. It’s not a sudden campaign that came up without having a conversation with Meta. No, they know our beliefs. They know what we don’t agree with in their policies. And the campaign is a way to express that, to highlight that queer lives are in danger due to the lack of protection on their platform.
So this campaign is in direct response to this digital targeting that you are seeing in the MENA region. How is this targeting happening and why do you think this is?
Let me start by saying that In all the countries where this is happening, being queer, being homosexual, being a trans person is criminalised. And in order to showcase that they are taking control of what’s happening in the country, security forces are scapegoating the queer community to show the wider community that they are preserving family values and are protecting society from Western colonisation.
Although they have their traditional ways to arrest people and oppress queer communities, one of their new ways is using social media platforms and dating apps to entrap individuals. They go on this app, they create fake accounts, they chat with the queer individuals, and they ask them to meet, and when they meet, they arrest them. The individuals who are behind the fake accounts are officials, security officials who have the power to do whatever they want, whether it’s law or not. In our country, the rule of law is absent.
“Although they have their traditional ways to arrest people and oppress queer communities, one of their new ways is using social media platforms and dating apps to entrap individuals.”
And you are calling on tech companies to do more to protect the community from this digital targeting. What are some of the things that you have called on tech companies to address?
So these big tech companies hold so much power and there’s so much that they can do. There’s a lot of documentation that we have issued in order to enhance the security of queer individuals on this platform. In our efforts to bolster the security of queer individuals on digital platforms, we’ve asked these platforms for greater transparency regarding policies directed towards user safety and content moderation in the Middle East.
We’ve requested they increase the number of staff moderating content from the MENA region, covering all dialects because if you don’t know, there are plenty of Arabic dialects. Words can carry multiple meanings, so we asked them to have a human team that follows up on reports that come from our region because the AI system doesn’t understand the context when it comes to the Arabic language.
To swiftly address digital targeting threats, we asked for direct communication channels between users and local advocacy groups. This includes providing our helpline numbers for immediate assistance during emergencies, such as arrests, where we can provide legal aid immediately. We requested that they publish these measures online to enhance accessibility and user safety.
We urged them to consult with civil society groups to introduce an option that allows users to automatically delete their application and its content when the user is engaged. And I will tell you why. Once the user is arrested the first thing they will do is to look into his phone in order to find out that he is gay or she’s lesbian or they are transgender – to expose their sexuality or gender identity. They then use this information as a tool to arrest and prosecute them.
It’s very hard to work here in this environment, but we have to do that because the safety of the queer individual is on the edge.
“Once the user is arrested the first thing they will do is to look into his phone in order to find out that he is gay or she’s lesbian or they are transgender – to expose their sexuality or gender identity.”
It’s clear that this digital targeting is just a new way that individuals in the MENA region are suppressing LGBTQI identities. With that in mind, apart from what these tech companies can do, what other change needs to happen to stop this targeting from happening and to protect queer individuals in Lebanon and the wider MENA region?
First of all, we need to abolish laws that criminalise homosexuality. Queer individuals often avoid seeking help from authorities when they face blackmail, harassment, or violence because they fear arrest based on these laws that criminalise homosexuality and diverse gender identities. It’s horrible to say that these laws are protecting criminals and arresting queer individuals. We need to abolish these laws and introduce laws that protect queer individuals.
There is also work that needs to be done on the social level. Particularly in our region, there’s a necessity to modernise religious speech because a lot of religious people incite violence against the queer community – they are calling on their supporters to harass and kill these people.
In 2022, we reported 3,500 cases of violence against queer individuals. That’s more than 10 violences per day. This is out of 6 million individuals who are living in Lebanon, and is only reported by one organisation. We live in a culture where a lot of queer individuals will not report the violation. Imagine how big the number is. It’s a horrible situation here.
“In 2022, we reported 3,500 cases of violence against queer individuals. That’s more than 10 violences per day.”
Thank you for sharing that. It just highlights even more why the work that you’re doing is so important in the region. Finally, what can people do to support the community in the MENA region?
I think a lot of international actors need to listen more to local actors to take into consideration the challenges that queer individuals face in our region and to listen more to the people on the ground.
I know there’s a psychological distance and I understand it’s hard to relate to people living 10,000 kilometres away from them. That’s why we need to open channels of communication where we can report honestly about our situation and we have this very healthy dynamic between international actors and the local actors.
Learn more about Helem here, and you find out more about the Secure Our Socials campaign here.