Criticism escalated following the circulation of videos of arrests and harsh treatment of protesters by security forces. In parallel, counter-protest hashtags emerged, some of which were newly created, while others were old hashtags that resurfaced. 

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza in October last year, Jordanians have been organizing continuous solidarity protests. However, the momentum of the movement increased in late March, especially with the growing number of participants, worsening humanitarian conditions, and the expanding scope of starvation in the enclave, amid Israeli intentions to invade the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are crammed.

In addition to condemning the situation in Gaza, the protests included slogans against normalization and calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Amman, who left the kingdom months ago. Protesters also criticized what they saw as Jordan's facilitation of goods passing to Israel, along with calls for similar protests in Arab countries, especially Egypt. Following heightened criticism after videos circulated showing arrests and the harsh treatment of protesters by security forces, counter-protest hashtags emerged, some newly created, such as #With_You_Jordan and #Loyalty_Tsunami, while others resurfaced, like #Jordan_is_a_red_line and #Jordan_first.

From March 25 to April 5, the four hashtags generated a total of 320,000 tweets, averaging 23,000 tweets per day, leading to over 1,057,000 interactions on X, according to statistics from the leading social media content analysis tool, Meltwater. Among these hashtags, #With_You_Jordan stood out with 110,000 tweets and 350,000 interactions. The hashtag peaked on Sunday, March 31, with 64,429 tweets on that day alone. Of these tweets, 69,000 were from unidentified locations.

Activity trend of the hashtag #With_You_Jordan - Meltwater

Saudi mobilizing

The total number of participants in the hashtag #With_You_Jordan reached 41,000 accounts. The appearance of Saudi accounts in the #With_You_Jordan hashtag was notable, according to Meltwater. Saudi accounts were mobilized to send out the same message: "Support and express the solidarity of the Saudis with their Jordanian brothers on the hashtag #With_You_Jordan.” 

Tweets from Saudi accounts garnered a significant share of interactions, backed by hundreds of thousands of followers. Some of these accounts carry the paid blue verification badge and feature a considerable number of hashtags and phrases in their bios, such as #Greater_Saudi_Arabia and #Saudi _Arabia_for_the_Saudis. Others feature the number 1727, referring to the establishment date of the first Saudi state. 

Strong Presence by the Salmani Electronic Army

The virtual space in Saudi Arabia has seen a prolonged history of manipulation of Twitter policies through inauthentic electronic activities appearing on the sidelines of the kingdom's political disputes. These activities include mass mobilization, amplification of hashtags, and launching smear campaigns and trolling against opponents and critics.

The hashtag #With_You_Jordan saw the presence of one of the most prominent electronic coalitions responsible for phishing campaigns, propaganda, and the infiltration of accounts that are critical of Saudi Arabia: the Salmani Electronic Army. Our investigation previously uncovered the role of the Salmani Electronic Army since its establishment on December 17, 2015.

The Salmani Electronic Army maintains a network of fake accounts used in its campaigns. Affiliated accounts participated in tweeting on the Jordan hashtag. Among them are two accounts named Aziz Al Mutairi and Al Mutairi Aziz (@zgTzJgZVTuowiaC, @lqSdaPaE7dq3fuN), which show signs of being fake or semi-automatically managed, especially with their blue verification badges and identical content, indicating they belong to the same owner or entity. These accounts are followed by the "Trend Management and Salmani Army" account responsible for coordinating the group's electronic activities.

There were at least 398 tweets combining the hashtags #With_You_Jordan and #Salmani_Electronic_Army. These tweets came from 254 accounts and were viewed at least 73,000 times, according to Meltwater.

What does the hashtag content say?

Around 200,000 tweets were posted from accounts with unknown geographic locations, another indicator of non-organic activity. Saudi Arabia led with 13,400 geotagged tweets, followed by Yemen with 2,700, Jordan with 2,100, Palestine with 1,200, the United States with a similar number, Egypt with 1,000, and the UAE with 809 tweets, according to Meltwater. Original tweets, posted directly from accounts, accounted for 7.2% of total tweets (approximately 8,000 tweets), while retweets comprised about 50% (54,400 tweets), and replies 38.6%, (42,300 tweets).

Countries with the most tweets and the type of tweets posted on the hashtag #With_You_Jordan - Meltwater

Accounts repeatedly posted tweets with similar content, some exaggerating Saudi interest in Jordan and the reason behind the Jordan hashtag, referring to previous statements by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and focusing on the prince's communication with King Abdullah II.

The Saudi Deterrence account, established in 2012 and followed by over 1.4 million people, also posted a provocative tweet that garnered over 500,000 views, stating: "We did not leave Kuwait in 1990, nor Egypt and Bahrain in 2011, nor Yemen in 2015... and certainly, we will not leave Jordan in 2024... With you, Abu Hussein, and #With_You_Jordan." The account consistently publishes promotional tweets about Saudi leaders and promotes the Kingdom's official stances, in addition to the account’s prominent role in smear campaigns and trolling efforts.

The tweets circulating under the hashtag revolved around several key points, including: smearing the participants in the protests near the Israeli embassy in Amman, accusing them of serving "foreign agendas" and being "Iranian proxies and Hamas stooges," labeling them as "traitors and agents of the terrorist Hamas," while describing them as "the tyrannical clique, the Hashashin Party, also known as the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood," as well as attacking the resistance factions in Gaza, accusing them of causing the destruction of Gaza, and praising the crackdown by  Jordanian security forces on the protests.