TikTok grows in GCC despite global controversy

the most popular TikTok influencers in the GCC have emerged on the platform itself rather than crossing over from more established social media channels, such as Instagram. (Shutterstock)
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Updated 01 September 2020
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TikTok grows in GCC despite global controversy

Short-form mobile video platform TikTok is seeing phenomenal growth across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with the app ranking among the top downloads in regional Apple and Google Play Stores despite the controversy surrounding the Chinese-owned platform in the US and elsewhere.

TikTok App Store Rankings, August 1, 2020

Country

Apple App Store

Google Play Store

UAE

6

3

Bahrain

8

5

Kuwait

6

6

Oman

4

3

Qatar

6

7

KSA

3

5

                                            Source: similarweb.com

The region’s top content creators are continuing to grow their follower base and generate fan engagement.

Latest figures from analytics and technology consultancy Anavizio, which has been tracking TikTok’s growth in the GCC throughout this year, shows that new influencers on the platform are enjoying phenomenal fan growth, with a number of top content creators from Saudi Arabia and the UAE increasing their fanbase by a million or more between February and August. This includes influencers such as UAE-based Sarahh Miladd (@sarahhmiladd), who has seen her fanbase surge from 4 million in February to 6.6 million as of mid-August, with an average of 126,000 hearts and 2,000 comments per video.

Influencers in other GCC countries, while perhaps not seeing the same follower growth numbers in absolute terms due to smaller fanbases, are nevertheless seeing incredible growth in percentage terms.

TikTok Follower Growth (select GCC Influencers)

Country

Username

Feb 2020

Jul 2020

Aug 2020

% Change
(Feb-Aug)

UAE

@ jumana_khan_

7,300,000

8,300,000

8,400,000

15%

UAE

@ sarahhmiladd

4,000,000

6,200,000

6,600,000

65%

Saudi Arabia

@ a5_l

1,300,000

2,900,0002

3,000,000

131%

Saudi Arabia

@dooj214

1,200,000

2,400,000

2,600,000

117%

Bahrain

@hamood_90

648,700

1,500,000

1,600,000

147%

Bahrain

@khay.33

396,200

864,200

876,700

121%

Oman

@iqrahussainshaikh

291,700

432,800

549,600

88%

Kuwait

@moon.toon

291,200

325,800

486,300

67%

Kuwait

@lucita_consumisyon

152,600

204,900

260,100

70%

Source: TikTok

As seen from the table above, influencers have continued to increase their fanbase between July and August despite an executive order from the US that could see TikTok banned in the country or the recent prosecution of five TikTokers in Egypt for indecency.

Of note is that the most popular TikTok influencers in the GCC have emerged on the platform itself rather than crossing over from more established social media channels, such as Instagram. This new breed of influencers by and large appears to be younger than on other platforms and more in tune with TikTok’s Generation Z audience.

Beauty industry mogul Huda Kattan (@hudabeauty) is one of the few celebrities or influencers to have successfully crossed over, ranking among the top UAE-based TikTok influencers with 2.1 million followers (although this pales in comparison to her 47 million Instagram followers).

However, this is not for a lack of trying; many GCC celebrities and established influencers have flocked to TikTok over the past year. It may therefore simply be a question of time before the better-known personalities establish themselves on the app. Examples include Saudi Arabian TV personality Lojain Omran (@lojain_omran), with 9 million followers on Instagram compared to 66,000 on TikTok, or Emirati singer Ahlam Al-Shamsi (@ahlamalshamsi), who has 12 million Instagram followers and just under 140,000 on TikTok.

At the same time, the more successful cross-over influencers who have gained a million or more followers on TikTok — such as Huda Kattan, Saudi fashion model Model Roz (@modelroz, 1.4 million TikTok followers) or Emirati internet couple Khalid & Salama (@khalidandsalama, 1.7 million followers on TikTok) — are in a race against the new TikTok stars who remain a step ahead by continuing to rapidly grow their follower base.

However, one must also bear in mind the format and lighthearted nature of content on TikTok. New influencers on the platform are all highly innovative content creators, putting out skits and routines on a range of topics such as fashion, beauty, comedy or dance. While these subjects, particularly fashion and beauty, align with the interests of popular influencers on other platforms, the key is to package the content in a way that appeals to the generally younger audience on TikTok.

Creating the right content and presenting it in new and engaging ways applies as much to brands as it does to celebrities and mainstream influencers. Brands in the GCC region have yet to take to TikTok in a big way, with product promotions making up just 1 percent out of a sample of 8,000 influencer posts analyzed by Anavizio.

TikTok as a whole is popular among Generation Z, whose members have strong notions about such things as brand purpose and who may not necessarily engage with content that is blatantly promotional. Should brands, therefore, wish to capitalize on the TikTok growth trend, they would need to tweak their existing influencer marketing strategy to suit the platform, focusing on whom they want to reach and speaking their language.

At the same time, brands need to allow influencers creative license to create content in their own unique styles, which fans have come to love and expect. While this would need to be done within agreed parameters that protect a brand’s image and reputation, seeking too much control stifles creativity, rendering influencer marketing ineffective and backfiring among the intended audience. On no platform is this more important than TikTok, where success is so tightly linked with creativity.

However, prior to taking the TikTok plunge, the bigger question for brands will be the fate of the platform in the US. While Tiktok’s global problems have not yet had an impact on its usage and growth in the Middle East, it would be prudent for brands to take a wait-and-see approach over the next few months. If, for instance, American companies are banned from dealing with TikTok, as the recent White House executive order suggests may happen, then the app will presumably be removed from the Apple and Google app stores. Such a development would obviously have a worldwide impact irrespective of any given government’s stance on the matter. Nevertheless, that should not stop brands who would otherwise be willing to enter the TikTok fray from starting to think creatively about how to engage on the platform once the time is right.

The research is based on a sample of 8,000 videos posted by the most popular TikTok users — based on follower numbers — in each of the six GCC countries between January 15 and August 15, 2020.


Iran sentences man to death for posts during 2022 protests

Updated 07 May 2024
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Iran sentences man to death for posts during 2022 protests

  • Mahmoud Mehrabi was convicted of inciting killings, insulting religious sanctities

TEHRAN: An Iranian court has sentenced a man to death over content he posted online during 2022 protests over the death in custody of an Iranian-Kurdish woman, the judiciary said Tuesday.
Iran was gripped by months-long protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, after she was arrested for an alleged breach of the strict dress code for women.
The judiciary’s Mizan Online website said Mahmoud Mehrabi was found guilty of posting content that included guidance on how “to use homemade weapons and called for the destruction of public property.”
He was convicted of “inciting people to commit killings and insulting religious sanctities,” it added.
Lawyer Babak Farsani said Mehrabi was found guilty of the capital offense of “corruption on earth.” He can appeal against the sentence before the Supreme Court.
The months-long protests sparked by Amini’s death saw hundreds of people killed in street clashes, including dozens of security personnel.
Thousands were arrested as authorities moved to quell what they branded foreign-instigated “riots.”
Last month, an Iranian court sentenced popular rapper Toomaj Salehi to death for supporting the demonstrations.
Nine men have been executed in protest-related cases involving killings and other violence against security forces.
Amnesty International says Iran executed 853 people in 2023, the highest total since 2015.


Pulitzer Prizes in journalism awarded to The New York Times, The Washington Post, AP and others

Updated 07 May 2024
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Pulitzer Prizes in journalism awarded to The New York Times, The Washington Post, AP and others

  • The Pulitzers honored the best in journalism from 2023 in 15 categories, as well as eight arts categories focused on books, music and theater

NEW YORK: The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prizes apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for coverage of global migration to the US.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and its aftermath produced work that resulted in two Pulitzers and a special citation. The Times won for text coverage that the Pulitzer board described as “wide-ranging and revelatory,” while the Reuters news service won for its photography. The citation went to journalists and other writers covering the war in Gaza.

In a final embrace Inas Abu Maamar, 36, cradles the shroud-wrapped body of her five-year-old niece, Saly, who died in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis, at the Nasser Hospital morgue before her funeral in southern Gaza, October 17, 2023. (REUTERS)

The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that “pierced the thick wall of secrecy” around the US Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel. Reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg were honored for their work.
The Pulitzers honored the best in journalism from 2023 in 15 categories, as well as eight arts categories focused on books, music and theater. The public service winner receives a gold medal. All other winners receive $15,000.

Migrants cross the Rio Bravo on an inflatable mattress into the United States from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 9, 2023. (AP)

The 15 photos in AP’s winning entry were taken across Latin America and along the US-Mexico border in Texas and California in a year when immigration was one of the world’s biggest stories. They were shot by AP staffers Greg Bull, Eric Gay, Fernando Llano, Marco Ugarte and Eduardo Verdugo, and longtime AP freelancers Christian Chavez, Felix Marquez and Ivan Valencia.
“These raw and emotional images came about through day-to-day coverage of a historic moment in multiple countries documenting migrants at every step of their treacherous journeys,” said Julie Pace, the AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.
The United States has seen more than 10 million border arrivals in the last five years, with migrants arriving from a wide range of new locations like Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti and Africa, in contrast with earlier eras.

Day breaks as a survivor of an Israeli airstrike on southern Gaza, who was displaced from Gaza City and sought refuge with family in the city of Khan Younis, lays his head on the corpse of a female relative named Tamam, which lies alongside family members who were killed in the strike, in Nasser hospital, Khan Younis, Gaza, October 24, 2023. (REUTERS)

The AP has won 59 Pulitzer Prizes, including 36 for photography. The news cooperative was named a finalist for the national reporting Pulitzer on Monday for its coverage of hundreds of thousands of children who disappeared from public schools during the pandemic.
In citing the Times for its work in Israel and Gaza, the Pulitzer board mentioned its coverage of the country’s intelligence failures, along with the attack and Israel’s military response.
The award comes even as The Times has faced some controversy about its coverage; last month a group of journalism professors called on the publication to address questions about an investigation into gender-based violence during the Hamas attack on Israel.
The Times’ Hannah Dreier won a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for her stories on migrant child labor across the United States. Contributing writer Katie Engelhart won the newspaper’s third Pulitzer, in feature writing, for her portrait of a family struggling with a matriarch’s dementia.
“Every one of the winners and finalists showcases a drive for original, revelatory reporting that underpins so much of what we produce, from the biggest storylines in the news to feature writing as well as classic investigations,” said Joe Kahn, the Times’ executive editor.
The Washington Post staff won in national reporting for its “sobering examination” of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which came with some gut-wrenching photos. “We were eager to find a way to cover it differently and change the conversation about mass shootings,” Peter Walstein, the Post’s senior national enterprise editor, said in the newspaper.
The Post’s David E. Hoffman won in editorial writing for a “compelling and well-researched” series on how authoritarian regimes repress dissent in the digital age. Its third award went to contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza, for commentaries written from a Russian prison cell.
The New Yorker magazine won two Pulitzers. Sarah Stillman won in explanatory reporting for her report on the legal system’s reliance on felony murder charges. Contributor Medar de la Cruz won in illustrated reporting and commentary for his story humanizing inmates in the Rikers Island jail in New York City.
The staff of Lookout Santa Cruz in California won in the breaking news category for what the prize board called “nimble community-minded coverage” of flooding and mudslides. On its website Monday, Lookout Santa Cruz said that it made its coverage free at a time of crisis in the community, and also used text messages to reach people without power.
“In short, we did our jobs,” the staff said in an unsigned article, “and we heard so many thanks for it. The Pulitzer is icing on that cake.”
The Pulitzers gave a second award in national reporting to the Reuters staff for an “eye-opening” series that probed Elon Musk’s automobile and aerospace businesses.
In local reporting, Sarah Conway of City Bureau and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute won for an investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago, which showed how racism and the police contributed to the problem.
The Pulitzer in criticism went to Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times for evocative and genre-spanning coverage of movies. The Pulitzer board’s second special citation went to the late hip-hop critic Greg Tate.
The awards are administered by Columbia University in New York, which itself has been in the news for student demonstrations against the war in Gaza. The Pulitzer board met away from Columbia this past weekend to deliberate on its winners.
The Pulitzers announced that five of the 45 finalists this year used artificial intelligence in research and reporting of their submissions. It was the first time the board required applicants for the award to disclose use of AI.
The prizes were established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer and first awarded in 1917.
 

 


Advocacy group ‘alarmed’ as journalists shot at in West Bank

Updated 06 May 2024
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Advocacy group ‘alarmed’ as journalists shot at in West Bank

  • Al-Araby TV workers were not injured but their equipment was destroyed
  • Ameed Shehade, Rabih Al-Monayar were wearing ‘Press’ vests at time of attack

LONDON: American advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists says it is “extremely concerned” after hearing reports that two Al-Araby TV journalists were shot at by Israeli forces in the West Bank on Saturday.

Reporter Ameed Shehade and camera operator Rabih Al-Monayar came under fire while they were covering an Israeli raid on the village of Deir al-Ghusun in Tulkarm.

Neither of the men was injured in the attack but their equipment was destroyed.

The CPJ urged Israel to launch an investigation into whether the journalists were deliberately targeted.

“CPJ is alarmed by the Israeli soldiers’ shooting at two Al-Araby TV journalists, which hit their camera, while they were reporting in the West Bank,” the group’s Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said.

Although he was “relieved” that the journalists had not been injured, he said he questioned whether the targeting was intentional as it was the second case of reporters being attacked while doing their jobs.

Al-Araby TV aired footage of the two men, who were wearing blue vests labeled “Press,” taking cover near their car.

 

 

Shehade said the shots were fired from a vehicle about 20 meters (22 yards) away and that they were clearly visible to the soldier.

Another journalist who was reporting on the raids confirmed that Shehade and Al-Monayar could be easily identified as members of the press.

According to The Guardian, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in the overnight raid. Hamas confirmed that four of the men killed were from its al-Qassam armed wing.

Al-Monayar and Shehade suffered a similar attack in July last year while reporting on an Israeli operation against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. They again escaped personal injury but their video equipment was damaged.


Russia charges journalist with ‘justifying terrorism’

Updated 06 May 2024
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Russia charges journalist with ‘justifying terrorism’

  • Nadezhda Kevorkova was arrested for two Telegram posts regarding an Islamist raid and Afghanistan, her son reports
  • The journalist specialized in coverage of the Middle East

MOSCOW: Russia has detained prominent journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova and charged her with “justifying terrorism” over posts on her Telegram account, her lawyer said Monday.
Kevorkova, 65, wrote for a number of outlets including Novaya Gazeta and Russia Today and specialized in coverage of the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Nadezhda Kevorkova has been detained and will be taken to a temporary detention center today. The matter of pre-trial restrictions will be decided tomorrow,” lawyer Kaloy Akhilgov said.
The charges relate to two posts on her Telegram from 2018 and 2021, one a re-post from another journalist about the 2005 Islamist raid on Nalchik and the other about Afghanistan, he said.
The raid on Nalchik, a city in Russia’s North Caucasus, saw armed Islamist militants target government and security buildings in an attack that left dozens of people dead.
Her ex-husband Maxim Shevchenko, who presents a talk show on state television, rejected the charges against her.
“Nadezhda Kevorkova never justified terrorism and never justified the attack on Nalchik ... but as a journalist, she certainly wrote about torture during the investigation,” he said.
Russia has waged an unprecedented crackdown on freedom of the press since launching its full-scale offensive in Ukraine, silencing and detaining journalists at odds with the Kremlin.


Media watchdogs raise alarm over Al Jazeera ban, call for it to be lifted

Updated 06 May 2024
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Media watchdogs raise alarm over Al Jazeera ban, call for it to be lifted

  • Israel’s decision sets ‘dangerous precedent,’ Committee to Protect Journalists says
  • News channel vows to continue Gaza coverage, will pursue ‘every legal step’ to fight block

LONDON: Media watchdogs have condemned Israel’s decision to block Al Jazeera, raising concerns about the erosion of media freedom in the country, especially amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the government’s decision set a dangerous precedent for other international media outlets operating in Israel.

“CPJ condemns the closure of Al Jazeera’s office in Israel and the blocking of the channel’s websites,” program director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said in New York.

Israel should allow Al Jazeera and all international media outlets to operate freely, particularly during wartime, he said.

Israel’s executive authority voted on Sunday to pass a law allowing the temporary shutdown of a foreign channel’s broadcasts if the content was deemed to be a threat to security during the ongoing war.

Soon after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the decision, reports emerged of raids on the offices of the Qatar-backed broadcaster.

The Foreign Press Association released a statement condemning the decision as a “dark day for the media” and accused Israel of joining “a dubious club of authoritarian governments” by banning the broadcasts.

The UN’s Human Rights office also urged the Israeli government to reverse the ban

“A free & independent media is essential to ensuring transparency & accountability. Now, even more so given tight restrictions on reporting from Gaza,” it said on X.

There has also been criticism of the decision from within the country, with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel filing a request to the Supreme Court to overturn the ban.

The news came amid a yearslong campaign waged against Al Jazeera by the Israeli government, which accuses it of anti-Israeli bias and “being a mouthpiece for Hamas.”

The broadcaster rejected the claims and said it would “pursue every legal step” to fight the decision.

Al Jazeera also vowed to continue its coverage from Gaza, as it remains one of the few networks with a strong presence on the ground, as foreign journalists are banned from entering the Strip without Israeli army supervision.

The network accused Israel of deliberately targeting its staff in an attempt to silence them.

“Israel’s suppression of free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists has not deterred us from performing our duty,” it said in its response to Sunday’s ban.

Despite the ruling, the channel remains accessible through Facebook in Israel.