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‘The Middle East has had a soft spot for anime since the Eighties’ — META executive

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Updated 12 June 2022
Zaira Lakhpatwala
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‘The Middle East has had a soft spot for anime since the Eighties’ — META executive

  • Moon Baz, creator partnerships lead at META Middle East, Africa and Turkey, talks content trends and content creators
Updated 12 June 2022
Zaira Lakhpatwala

Can you tell us about the latest content trends on Instagram in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia?

The Middle East region has one of the highest social media usage rates in the world. People in the region have turned to Instagram to stand behind causes they care about and have successfully ignited waves of digital activism, which gave rise to content that focuses on sharing information and educating communities. It also allowed others to find their own voices in these movements.

We have also seen an increasing interest in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) among our communities as the buzz around concepts like the metaverse and Web3 continues.

Content creators in the region creatively used our Spark AR features to bring forth the spirit of Ramadan and augment the holy month celebrations with filters by @Bdanabol and @aymen_ghnia topping the list.

Reels content has also been on the rise with content spanning everything from celebrating Saudi coffee on the back of declaring the year 2022 as the Year of Saudi Coffee, to anime and K-pop content, and the latest hits on Netflix.




Moon Baz, head of Entertainment Partnerships for MENA and Turkey at Meta. (Supplied)

Can you elaborate on the popularity of anime content on the platform?

The Middle East has had a soft spot for anime since the Eighties. The Japanese art has inspired Arab creators to use anime for self-expression, incorporating Arab culture and sensibilities within its parameters of character and world-building.

With the boom in local anime creation, lovers of the medium are increasingly turning to Instagram as the platform to showcase their talents. To date, the hashtag #anime has garnered almost a million followers across KSA, UAE, Egypt and Kuwait on Instagram.

Regional creators are exploring the full range of the anime universe with manga, cosplay, origami and folktale anime productions coming together on the platform and redefining the boundaries of the medium through its originality.

Talents like Jassim Al Mohannadi use Instagram to publish original anime productions spiced with Middle Eastern flavors. Jasim has published 21 chapters of his own Arabic manga creations on WEBTOON under the title “Justice in the Wasteland” and penned the Middle Eastern manga “Primeval.” Others like Reem (@renberryart) were able to turn their impressive talents in anime illustration into a source of income on Instagram. Everything from anime movie characters to fusions of Mirko and Tengen can be found on Reem’s emerging storefront.

We are delighted to witness the incredible Japanese art shaping Middle Eastern creator communities and further making Instagram home to self-expression.

How has fashion and travel content grown on the platform?

Instagram is a place to explore, share and push culture forward. We see our community heading to places like Explore, Reels, and Stories for inspiration, self-expression and discovery of all types of content. Yet, there is no doubt that the fashion and travel categories have always been, and continue to be, a cornerstone of the Instagram experience.

There is always a new fashion trend to jump on in terms of what to wear and where to shop. Our 2022 Instagram Trends Report has shown that Gen Z is now making bold moves with its style choices, using fashion as a vehicle for joy, optimism and self-expression.

They are also moving away from big-box online retailer websites as more than half of young people are interested in new shopping experiences, opening new avenues for small-to-medium businesses and thrift shops.

In the region, we saw a recent interest in modest fashion where the hashtag #modestfashion grew 45 percent in the UAE, as creators were experimenting in the lead-up to Ramadan.

Travel content has also been on the rise, especially with the boom of Reels. We have seen creative content from a plethora of creators in the region such as Murad and Nataly Osmann and Kasem Hato, who continuously share everything from vacation hotspots for the summer to hidden gems around the world through content that sparks a sense of adventure.

What do brands need to know about current content trends both in terms of creating their own content as well as in terms of collaborating with creators?

90 percent of people on Instagram follow a business globally, making it easier for brands to transform content into commerce by building trust with customers through their owned channels as well as collaborating with key opinion leaders and creators.

We introduced an array of tools that help brands seamlessly connect and collaborate with creators on Instagram including Branded Content Ads, Shopping from Creators, and Branded Content Tags, to name a few.

Last year, we added a new hub to the Professional Dashboard where businesses can find inspiration to spark more content ideas for those unsure where to start. Instagram users with business accounts can browse a collection of quality organic and promoted posts from other businesses in the hope it will inspire them to post their brand-specific content.

There is so much room for exploring and expanding brands’ presence online and to make that search easier, we curated guidelines and tips to help businesses amplify their growth based on their goals.

How is Instagram investing in content creators?

Creators are the heart of culture on Instagram. We’re committed to building a suite of tools to support creators’ various needs and ambitions, regardless of if they’re aspiring, emerging or established creators.

If you have an idea that you want to share with the world, you should be able to create it and get it out there easily and simply — across Facebook and Instagram — and earn money for your work. That is why we are focused on developing a range of creative and monetization tools across our platforms to support creators’ various needs and ambitions, whether they are just getting started or already have an established brand.

In 2021, we expanded the support to fund content for even more creators to produce fun and engaging content that will help them grow their personal brands and make a living. We also launched @creators as a way to reach even more aspiring creators around the world with best practices, product news, and tips & trips.

We have a dedicated creators’ page, which includes everything a creator needs to know on Instagram — ranging from trends, content tips, success stories, staying safe and earning money, to guidelines on using the most recent tools and features.

By the end of 2022, we plan to invest over $1 billion in programs that give creators new ways to earn money for the content they create on Facebook and Instagram. This investment will include new bonus programs that pay eligible creators for hitting certain milestones when they use our creative and monetization tools.

We will also provide seed funding for creators to produce their content. Our goal is to help as many creators as possible find sustainable, long-term success on our apps.

Lastly, how does Instagram moderate and monitor content?

When we find content such as a post, comment or story that goes against our Community Guidelines, we remove it from Instagram. If the content does not go against our Community Guidelines but may be inappropriate, disrespectful or offensive, we may limit it from Explore, rather than removing it from Instagram.

Our Community Guidelines define what is and is not allowed on Instagram, and they apply all over the world. They are designed to encourage expression and create a safe environment on Instagram.

To find, review and take action on content that may go against Community Guidelines, we use technology and human reviewers. Artificial intelligence technology is central to our content review process. AI can detect and remove content that goes against our Community Guidelines before anyone reports it.

Other times, our technology sends content to human review teams to take a closer look and make a decision on it. These thousands of reviewers around the world focus on content that is most harmful to Instagram users.

Anime content creators in the Middle East

User: @artistsoosa https://www.instagram.com/artistsoosa/

About: Jeddah-born Samah Kamil was the first Arab artist to receive a master’s degree in the art of manga from the Arts & Designs faculty at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia. As well as being an artist, she’s also the editor of Manga Arabia, and leads and facilitates workshops covering a variety of manga-related topics.

Her work, which she posts on Instagram, illustrates Saudi culture through contemporary anime drawings, reflecting meaningful plots with relatable characters and social messages.

User: 6th__kage https://www.instagram.com/6th__kage/

About: The Saudi-based content creator is an avid gamer who merges the worlds of gaming and anime. He often cosplays his favorite character Kakashi Hatake from the manga series Naruto.

User: @Paris.ae https://www.instagram.com/paris.ae/

About: Taking cosplaying to the next level, @Paris.ae presents herself as an Emirati Kawaii doll bringing anime characters to life.

 

User: @Renberryart  https://www.instagram.com/renberryart/

About: 21-year-old Reem has combined her passion for all things anime and her artistic skills to create digital art that she posts and sells through her Instagram page.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by (@renberryart)

 

Topics: Moon Baz Meta anime

Award winning Al Arabiya reporter recounts horrors of covering Sudan

Updated 16 February 2026
TAREK ALI AHMAD
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Award winning Al Arabiya reporter recounts horrors of covering Sudan

  • Almigdad Hassan describes his journey covering killings, hunger and disease
  • RSF continues onslaught as world fails to stop Sudan war
Updated 16 February 2026
TAREK ALI AHMAD

LONDON: When war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, Almigdad Hassan, a 27-year-old pharmacy graduate from the University of Khartoum, had just begun his first job at a pharmaceutical company.

Within days, the explosions that trapped him in the capital pushed him into frontline war reporting for Saudi Arabia broadcasters Al Arabiya and Al Hadath.

It was a decision that would later earn him an international free press award for courageous coverage of one of the world’s most underreported and inaccessible humanitarian catastrophes.

Front view of the University of Khartoum's Faculty of Pharmacy, where Almigdad Hassan earned his BS Pharmacy degree. (Supplied)

As most residents fled Khartoum, Hassan said he felt compelled to stay.

“Something inside me was driving me to stay, but I didn’t know what it was,” Hassan told Arab News after winning the Newcomer of the Year award from Free Press Unlimited, a Netherlands-based international press freedom organization.

“I just felt that this was my chance to use my talent in media to do something for my people and humanity.”

At the time, he took three days to accept Al Arabiya’s offer to become an official war correspondent, following a previous internship with the network.

He did not anticipate that the power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Abu Dhabi-backed Rapid Support Forces would spiral into a protracted war — now nearing its third anniversary and widely described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

“Things escalated so quickly in Khartoum. Main roads and bridges were blocked, armored vehicles and military checkpoints were seen everywhere,” Hassan said, referring to the RSF’s seizure of Khartoum International Airport, the presidential palace, and several military bases in April 2023.

“Every time I carried my equipment and stepped outside to report, I did not know whether I would reach my assignment or make it back home. Every decision put my life at risk.”

Sudan's Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (2nd L) attend the signing of a peace deal in Khartoum on December 5, 2022, months before their factions started fighting. (AFP/file photo)

He shared harrowing testimonies from survivors in displacement camps in El-Obeid, North Kordofan, where residents had fled violence in the RSF-controlled towns of Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan before their liberation during a major SAF army breakthrough last fortnight.

“I heard more than 10 accounts of grave human rights violations, including mass killings, torture, widespread gang rape, and arbitrary imprisonment,” Hassan said of his reporting last December.

Hassan recounted 15 months of reporting from RSF-controlled Khartoum before the SAF retook the capital last March, describing it as “the darkest time of my life.”

“Khartoum was hell back then. It was the worst place in the world in terms of security and the violation of every basic human right to a level no one can imagine,” Hassan said.

He recalled that the most harrowing scenes he witnessed came within the first week of the war, when “bodies of residents lay decomposing in the streets and were eaten by dogs.”

“This was the moment I realized our humanity was being erased, just as those bodies were slowly vanishing,” Hassan said, “but it reinforced my belief that documenting these horrors was my mission, no matter the risks.”

People walk among scattered objects in the market of El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur in Sudan following weeks of fighting between the SAF and RSF, on April 29, 2023. (AFP)

He reported attacks involving killings, rape, and arbitrary kidnappings carried out inside private homes. He also pointed to unofficial mass graves hastily dug into residential streets to bury the dead, while some bodies were left to decompose inside houses.

“The armed men would celebrate killing residents because anyone living in army-controlled areas was seen as supportive of the army,” Hassan said.

“These are not only media narratives. It is a reality people lived.”

Since the war began, both the RSF and SAF have been accused of committing atrocities. However, the RSF has been accused of genocide against non-Arab groups such as the Masalit, Fur, and Zaghawa tribes in West Darfur. Abu Dhabi has been accused of backing the RSF.

Last year, a detailed report produced by Amnesty International provides evidence for the presence of UAE armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles in Sudan being used by the RSF in particular. Amnesty also accuses the RSF of war crimes. 

In August 2024, 15 months into the war, the UN-backed Famine Review Committee of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared famine in North Darfur’s Zamzam displacement camp, which had been under RSF blockade — the committee’s first such determination in more than seven years.

Last November, the UN declared famine in RSF-controlled Al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, warning that a further 20 areas across Darfur and Greater Kordofan were at risk in what it described as “the world’s largest hunger crisis.”

Last fortnight, the global hunger monitor issued an alert saying famine thresholds for acute malnutrition had been surpassed in the contested North Darfur localities of Um Baru and Kernoi.

Hassan pointed to the lack of safety and severe movement restrictions in RSF-controlled areas, describing neighborhoods as “largely emptied of residents” and cut off, with no services or medical supplies.

Almigdad Hassan says the most harrowing scenes he witnessed came within the first week of the war, when “bodies of residents lay decomposing in the streets and were eaten by dogs.” (Supplied)

By autumn 2024, months before Khartoum was reclaimed by the army, residents in some neighborhoods were dying from diseases such as dengue fever, with no access to basic medical supplies or care.

Hospitals, he said, were reporting at least four deaths a day.

During the outbreak, which also infected some of his fellow journalists, Hassan said he relied on his training as a pharmacist to assess the risks but was still “scared for my life, knowing the risk was high and there was little protection.”

He said he felt a responsibility to document both the military and humanitarian dimensions of the war, particularly in the absence of any rule of law or effective security presence.

People, he noted, were entirely dependent on humanitarian support at a time when aid organizations were denied access.

“It was hard to witness this as a human being, let alone document it as a journalist,” he said. “Even enemies have basic human rights that need to be maintained, but unfortunately, what I saw was that fighters and armed militia got used to the act of killing in a horrific manner.”

The RSF, he said, engaged in direct clashes that killed civilians while also burning entire villages and looting livestock, shops, and property. Once-bustling roads in Khartoum had become deserted, unrecognizable corridors of destruction.

Almighdad Hassan said his work as a journalist allowed limited movement around Khartoum after complex security arrangements with both sides. (Supplied)

According to UN figures, the conflict has displaced roughly 14 million people and killed hundreds of thousands.

Hassan said his work as a journalist allowed limited movement around Khartoum after complex security arrangements with both sides — a privilege unavailable to most civilians.

“Yet, we were often caught in crossfire and at risk of being killed by the other warring party, which viewed us as siding with the enemy,” he said.

“As journalists, we relied on solar power to charge our equipment and stay connected, which gave us more access than ordinary citizens. Even then, once we left our office — often our only safe space — we were completely isolated. If something happened to you in the streets, no one would know.”

Beyond the devastating loss of human life, Hassan said the violations extended to Sudan’s cultural heritage and national history.

A picture shows a view of the damage at the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum on April 11, 2025, after the army recaptured the country's capital from RSF paramilitaries the previous month. (AFP/file photo)

Reporting from the aftermath of attacks on the presidential palace and the national museum, he said he witnessed the destruction and looting of artifacts tracing the country’s history since independence.

“I watched the country’s history being erased in front of my eyes,” he said, referring to damaged artifacts, gifts from earlier eras, and the destruction of classic cars once used by former presidents.

“I realized the brutality of this war when I saw people killing their own countrymen and destroying their own culture, heritage and history.”

Hassan described residents’ “hysterical happiness” in every area retaken by the army. Many, he said, likened life under RSF rule to “colonialism,” saying they were treated like foreigners rather than Sudanese.

Almigdad Hassan described ‘hysterical happiness’ in every area retaken from RSF. (Supplied)

Though both sides have been accused of violations, Hassan said people want a ruling authority that restores the basic dignity and human rights they lost.

In announcing the award, Free Press Unlimited said Hassan was recognized for his “dedication, courage, and ability to deliver compelling, accurate reporting under extreme conditions.”

Hassan said the recognition deepened his sense of responsibility toward humanity and strengthened his determination to continue reporting on the devastating war.

“With time, I understood the importance of what I do,” he said. “I realized how journalism can protect lives and deliver voices that would otherwise go unheard.”

He described the award as a shared responsibility with the international community. With his work now recognized globally, Hassan said his reach — and his mission — has only grown.

“It is no longer a job. It is my mission.”
 

 

Topics: Sudan conflict Editor’s Choice Almigdad Hassan Al Arabiya AL HADATH Khartoum Sudan

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