On February 1, 2026, the WATCH IT platform broadcast the first promotional clip for the series "Operation Snakehead" (Ras al-Af'a), which recounts the pursuit and arrest of Mahmoud Ezzat, a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and a member of the Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau, who took over as acting General Guide after the arrest of General Guide Mohamed Badie’. His name was associated with managing the group's organizational activities inside and outside Egypt. He remained in hiding for years until he was arrested in New Cairo in August 2020 after a security operation that lasted years, an incident upon which the series, also known as "Men in the Shadows: Operation Serpent’s Head," is based in dramatizing the events of the pursuit and arrest.

This promotional clip was preceded by an advertisement published in September 2025, on Facebook, revealing the series' star and the production company, which is Synergy Production, associated with Egyptian businessman and producer Tamer Morsi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Egyptian Media Group (EMG). Circulated information suggests the group's connection to sovereign entities in Egypt.

Tamer Morsi established Synergy Production company, later selling a 50% stake to the Egyptian Media Group in 2016. The Egyptian Media Group is owned by Eagle Capital, which had previously announced its acquisition of the group. Subsequently, Morsi took on the role of chairman of the Egyptian Media Group.

The official announcement of the series coincided with intensive digital activity adopting a sharp political discourse, involving known and anonymous accounts, which resulted in a varied interaction between supporting and opposing accounts, reflected in a state of digital polarization across social media platforms.

A Commercial Promotion Campaign That Implies Political Messages

Since the last week of January 2026, a promotional campaign for the series "Men in the Shadows: Operation Serpents’ Head" began on social media platforms, led by Egyptian and Saudi commercial accounts that used the hashtag #رجال_الظل (Men in the Shadows) to promote the series.

The campaign swiftly shifted from purely artistic promotion to embrace a political dimension. This change was marked by the incorporation of politically charged messages into the series' narrative, which is related to controversial political events in Egypt that have occurred since 2013.

On January 24, one day before the Police Day celebration and the anniversary of the January 25 Revolution, an account named “Horus Hawks of the East” published more than 30 posts promoting the political regime in Egypt and criticizing the Muslim Brotherhood and its period of rule, using the hashtag “Men in the Shadows”.

A review of the account on Facebook showed that it identifies itself as affiliated with the Egyptian General Intelligence. On January 26, the hashtag #رأس_الأفعى (Serpent Head) began appearing across a number of commercial accounts on Facebook and X.

The hashtag first peaked on February 1st, coinciding with the broadcast of the series' first promotional trailer. Two days later, on February 3rd, the hashtag's spread rate increased despite the decrease in associated posts on both Facebook and X. On February 20th, with the start of the series' airing, posting on the two hashtags #رأس_الأفعى (Serpent Head) and #رجال_الظل (Men in the Shadows) peaked, coinciding with the escalating controversy surrounding the work's events.

Campaign Indicators

Although the number of posts associated with the hashtags #رجال_الظل (Men in the Shadows) and #رأس_الأفعى (Serpent Head) did not exceed 2,800 posts across social media platforms, the total estimated reach was approximately 8.89 billion, with about 9 million interactions recorded. These figures are high compared to the number of posts, which suggests the potential for digital amplification.

This assumption is supported by the graph comparing the number of posts and reach rates over the past month; it is observed that the increase in reach does not temporally coincide with peak posting periods, which may indicate limited amplification of posts during times when their number is not increasing.

Facebook captured the largest share of posts, at about 39% of the total, followed by X with nearly 37%, then Instagram with about 18%, and finally TikTok with close to 5.5%.

Geographically, the largest number of posts was recorded in Egypt, followed by the UAE by a noticeable margin, then Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey with similar percentages, followed by the United Kingdom, the United States, and Iraq with smaller numbers.

The hashtags accompanying the two hashtags: “Men in the Shadows” and “Serpent’s Head”, varied between promotional hashtags for the Ramadan drama and others with political connotations, including #الشرطة_المصرية_مسيطرة (Egyptian Police are in Control) and #حراس_العرين (Guardians of the Den).

This diversity was also reflected in the most frequently used words in the discussions associated with the two hashtags; the term "Serpent Head" stood out as the most used, followed by the name "Mahmoud Ezzat," alongside words such as "National Security" and "Egyptian Police."

The heightened interaction surrounding the two hashtags points to a focus on political debate and polarization, rather than the artistic merit of the series itself. This suggests the series functions more as a "political message," which a coordinated digital campaign, spearheaded by specific accounts, is attempting to amplify.

Commercial and anonymous accounts lead the interaction

The account "Horus Eagles of the East," which identifies itself as "affiliated with the Egyptian General Intelligence," topped the list of accounts most interactive with the campaign, having published 169 posts on Facebook during the past weeks.

This was followed by an account with the username "@ramyloveJESUS," which posted 14 comments in short intervals on a post by another account called "@alMoghridaX." These comments included a retweet of a post by a third account, @Jomma_Masr, which used the hashtag “Egyptian Police are in Control”. The first account's comments were limited to using the hashtags “Serpent Head”, “National Security, and “Egyptian Police are in Control”.

A review of the "@ramyloveJESUS" account shows that it is relatively recently created, does not use a profile picture or a real name, and the majority of its posts (163 posts) came in the form of comments linked to the hashtag “Serpent Head”, which may indicate its use for the purpose of amplifying engagement.

This account interacts with the "@Jomma_Mas" account, which was created in 2023 and also does not use a profile picture or real name, and whose posts are limited to aggressive political content.

The same account also interacted with the account "@alMoghridaX," whose transparency feature showed that it had changed its name 62 times, the last of which was in July 2025.

Coming in third on the list of most active accounts was the @ONTVEgy channel account, which published 52 posts that included the hashtag “Serpent Head”, in a promotional context for the series.

Fourthly, the account "Egypt Occupied (Patience of the Cat and Pounce of the Lion) @ALBHRALTAEB" used the hashtags “Men in the Shadows” and “Serpent Head” to criticize the political regime in Egypt across 52 posts. The account does not appear to use a clear personal identity or a real name.

The account is linked to a website with the domain genz002.net, which is associated with Egyptian activist "Anas Habib." This website calls for a referendum on the removal of the Egyptian president. An examination of the domain data shows that it was registered on October 31, 2025, in Iceland, with a service activated to protect the owner's data.

The account also interacted with the "@GenZ002_eg" account, which was created in 2025, does not use a profile picture, and is linked to the same domain. Transparency features showed that it changed its name three times and is geographically located in Europe.

After that, another account named @mohamed.abdo.93662 appeared among the interacting accounts, publishing 33 posts on Facebook that included the hashtag “Serpent Head”. The account's description indicates that the owner has a carpentry workshop in Damanhour city, Beheira Governorate.

The account "Al Maestro" @bassemegy777, a recent account with no clear identity, also published 13 posts that included the same hashtag, and was found to be interacting with the same network of accounts, which includes the account @Jomma_Masr.

Who is leading the campaign?

Network analysis of the campaign data showed that the interaction was concentrated around a number of central, interconnected accounts. Despite the limited number of posts, the network map showed the presence of accounts playing the roles of broadcasting and attribution within the campaign.

The analysis showed that the account @alMoghridaX, associated with the hashtags “Egyptian Police are in Control” and “Serpent Head”, is considered one of the central accounts in the network, and received 129 comments aimed at increasing the visibility of its posts.

كما برز حساب «المايسترو» @bassemegy777 ضمن الحسابات النشطة التي استخدمت محتوى المسلسل في سياق سياسي.

These accounts were linked to the account @Jomma_Masr, which is likely an unverified account, within a group known as "Twitter and Alternative Media State Supporters," which also includes another account called @emanahmedzak9.

The patterns of interaction among these accounts indicate their operation within a coordinated network for launching hashtags and intensifying their spread across digital platforms.