Given Qatar's known role in supporting terrorism and interfering in the internal affairs of its neighbors, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have placed travel and diplomatic bans on Doha.
Qatari news channel, Al-Jazeera’s response to the ban has been to escalate a political campaign against Saudi Arabia. It has used the case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to defame the Kingdom.
The Arab boycott is believed to be led by Saudi Arabia. Since then, Al-Jazeera never stopped fake reporting that seeks to distort the image of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.
The deliberate smear campaign, praising Qatar and criticizing Saudi Arabia, point to targeted fake news aimed at discrediting Bin Salman's policies. The Qatari campaign seeks to direct social media users to false stories repeating persistent slurs against Saudi regime. Some of the accounts involved in the campaign also posted insulting content about Saudi Arabia, which points to a concerted effort being directed from Doha.
It is also worth to mention the activity of pro-Qatar "bots", which are software applications that run automated tasks over the internet. They have been found at the center of attempts to influence the world's political agenda and elections.
The four Arab states have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar since June 2017, accusing their neighbor of funding terrorism and harboring fugitives. The four states demanded that Qatar closes Al-Jazeera channel, as part of a list of demands issued to Doha in order for relations to be restored.
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