Reuters reported on the role played by false news networks and automated accounts in social media outlets since the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the person believed to be a key player behind the attacks. He is Saud al-Qahtani, a close associate of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Reuters said the Saudi authorities had not disclosed whether al-Qahtani was currently detained or not, and that his e-army, dubbed "electronic flies," was unclear.
Saud al-Qahtani was dismissed as advisor to the Saudi royal court on October 20 in the context of the Saudi official acknowledgment of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and the kingdom's announcement that 18 Saudis had been arrested on the case.
The report said that the automated accounts flooded the social networks, and many of them promote the support of Saudi Arabia and cast doubt on what is attributed to the Kingdom of involvement in the killing of Khashoggi.
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Reuters has followed what has been posted on social networks since Khashoggi's death, and said fake accounts and influential Saudi users have repeatedly published several tweets, including "Qatar Intelligence Kills Khashoggi" and "Greater Saudi Arabia," but the agency said it had not found evidence However, Al-Qahtani or the Saudi government controls these accounts.
The death of Khashoggi helped highlight ways in which governments can increasingly manipulate information and social media to promote their political ends, said Lisa Maria Neudert, a researcher at Oxford University's Oxford Internet Institute.
According to the Reuters report, in contrast to the Saudi campaigns, there are other efforts to create confusion about what is going on inside the Saudi regime using automated message accounts and spreading false news.