The air in Iraq crackles with a tension that has nothing to do with the weather, and everything to do with the war raging beyond its borders. In late February, as the regional conflict involving Iran escalated, the physical battlefields seemed to bleed into the country’s digital spaces in a torrent of raw, unfiltered vitriol. Iraqi journalists, analysts, and ordinary citizens began to describe a strange, unsettling phenomenon: their social media feeds, once filled with family photos and mundane daily chatter, were suddenly being weaponized. Facebook, the virtual public square for millions, transformed into a battlefield of its own, where accusations of treason flew like shrapnel, hateful rhetoric drowned out reasoned debate, and coordinated campaigns sought to silence those who dared to speak. For the men and women who live by their words—the journalists reporting on the ground, the academics trying to make sense of the chaos, and the content creators attempting to humanize the conflict—this was a new and terrifying front. It wasn’t just that they were facing criticism; they were facing a systematic erosion of their safety, a psychological war waged through malicious algorithms and targeted harassment, designed to push them out of the public eye entirely.
Faced with this digital assault, a coalition of Iraqi civil society organizations refused to let the onslaught go unquantified or unopposed. Supported by UNESCO through the European Union-funded Social Media 4 Peace project—an initiative active in Iraq since 2025—these local monitors stepped into the fray. The coalition, comprised of five distinct groups: ANAT for Media Development, the Iraqi Digital Reporting Platform for Female Journalists, Journalists Home in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the Iraqi Centre for Strategic Analytics, and the Media Monitoring Centre, understood that the fight for the country’s future was as much about narratives as it was about territory. But their approach was not one of censorship or heavy-handed suppression. They faced a delicate, complicated puzzle: how do you respond to a wave of online abuse and manipulation without trampling on the very principles of freedom of expression and the public’s right to access information? They sought to build a response that was rooted in evidence and human rights—a path that navigated the narrow line between protecting vulnerable voices from harm and allowing the robust, messy, and essential debate that a fledgling democracy desperately needs.
Between the 5th and 29th of March 2026, these dedicated teams undertook a painstaking and often draining task. They scrolled through thousands of social media posts, their eyes scanning for the tell-tale signs of coordinated manipulation and raw hostility. After weeks of meticulous work, they closely analyzed a staggering 713 distinct cases of harmful content, with Facebook emerging as the primary arena for this digital conflict. Their methodology was as human as it was technological. While keyword searches and analytical algorithms helped them track trending hate speech, it was the combination of manual observation and, crucially, reports submitted directly from the affected users themselves that gave their research its profound depth. To facilitate this, the coalition built a dedicated reporting platform integrated into their website, creating a digital safety net where journalists and citizens experiencing online harm could directly contribute their evidence. Day after day, the researchers digested a grim diet of disinformation, virulent hate speech, implicit threats, and outright attacks aimed squarely at the press. They worked to piece together the patterns hidden within the digital noise, seeking to understand not just what was being said, but how these messages were being crafted, seeded, and amplified across the political landscape.
What they uncovered painted a stark picture of how quickly war rhetoric becomes a weapon in domestic disputes. The monitoring revealed a dramatic intensification of hate speech, explicit incitement to violence, and a proliferation of treason accusations, but the deeper shift was even more insidious. The conflict itself was being repurposed as a cudgel in Iraq’s internal power struggles. Online narratives cleverly harnessed the regional war to mobilize domestic actors around fiercely contested issues: the presence and influence of armed groups, the role of the United States in the region, and the very future of Iraq’s political structure. These arguments were often infused with religious themes and historical grievances, pulling at the seams of a society still healing from decades of sectarian strife. The researchers noticed a chilling uniformity in the propaganda—repeated phrasing across distinct accounts, impeccably synchronized posting times, and the constant recycling of the same videos and allegations. This suggested that much of the activity was facilitated by organized, or at least semi-organized, campaigns. However, the researchers were careful to make a critical distinction: they found no definitive proof of centralized control. This nuance is vital, as it shapes the question of who—or what—is ultimately directing these toxic narratives, and it underscores the complexity of addressing a problem that is both organic and manufactured. What became undeniably clear was that Iraq’s digital spaces were not merely reflecting the regional events; they were actively transposing them onto the domestic stage, transforming them into ammunition for battles over power, identity, and public opinion.
The human cost of this data is immense, and it has fallen disproportionately on women. The coalition’s findings highlighted a devastating surge in digital violence targeting female journalists and public figures, who face a specific and often brutal brand of harassment designed to degrade, humiliate, and silence them. This technology-facilitated gender-based violence goes beyond mere insults; it often involves deepfakes, doxxing, and threats of sexual violence, creating an environment of constant fear that pushes women out of professional spaces. The coalition issued a resolute call for more responsive, real-time monitoring and, crucially, practical protection mechanisms for these journalists, analysts, and content creators. They argued that reactive measures are no longer sufficient; what is needed is a system that anticipates threats and provides immediate, tangible support for those under fire. Adding another layer to this crisis is the explosion of disinformation and AI-generated content, which makes it almost impossible for the average user to decipher truth from fiction. The researchers also highlighted the complicity of the audience itself. Our emotional reactions—the outrage, the fear, the instant sharing—act as fuel for the algorithmic fire, helping malicious content reach wider and wider audiences. This highlights an urgent need for comprehensive media and information literacy programs to equip citizens with the critical thinking skills necessary to evaluate the torrent of information flooding their screens.
Looking ahead, UNESCO is committed to scaling up its support. Plans are already in motion to expand media and information literacy initiatives, provide enhanced safety training for journalists and content creators, and bolster fact-checking capacities through the Social Media 4 Peace project. Yet, the true strength of this effort lies in its connection to the ground. The local partners bring an invaluable, nuanced knowledge of Iraq’s diverse communities, its intricate political tensions, and its rich cultural context. They anchor the global response in the lived experiences of ordinary Iraqis, ensuring that this work remains relevant, empathetic, and effective. The coalition’s broader purpose extends far beyond mitigating immediate harm; it is about building a resilient, evidence-based, and human rights-centered ecosystem for online discourse. This effort is not isolated to Iraq. Through the Social Media 4 Peace network, Iraq’s experience is shared with similar initiatives in Indonesia, Kenya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, South Africa, and Kyrgyzstan, creating a global loop of learning and solidarity. By publishing their findings and working to protect those on the front lines, the coalition offers a glimmer of hope: a blueprint for fighting the digital darkness with the very tools of openness, transparency, and human dignity that the propagandists and abusers seek to destroy.