Marc Owen Jones
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About
Marc Owen Jones is an associate professor of media analytics at Northwestern University in Qatar, where he specializes in researching and lecturing on disinformation, digital authoritarianism, and political repression. His recent work has focused on investigating social media disinformation and harassment campaigns emanating from or targeting the Middle East. Having grown up in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Jones has also lived, worked, and studied in Sudan, Syria, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Jones earned his PhD in Government and International Affairs from Durham University in 2016. Following this, he undertook a six-month postdoctoral fellowship at Tübingen University, before joining Exeter University in Fall 2016. At Exeter, he transitioned from postdoctoral researcher to tenure-track lecturer, focusing on the history of the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf. From 2018-2024, he served as an assistant and later an associate professor of Middle East Studies and digital humanities at Hamad bin Khalifa University.
Jones has a prolific publication record, including two single-authored books: Political Repression in Bahrain, published by Cambridge University Press (2020), and Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation, and Social Media, published by Hurst Books and Oxford University Press (2022). He has also edited several key volumes on Bahrain and the Gulf, such as Gulfization of the Arab World (Gerlach Press, 2018) and Bahrain’s Uprising (Zed Books, 2015). His scholarly output spans dozens of book chapters and journal articles covering topics from digital disinformation and authoritarianism in the Middle East to Bahrain and imperial history and the role of social media in both activism and state control.
Jones has been invited to deliver lectures on the intersection of digital technology and political repression at prestigious institutions like Princeton University, University of Oxford, New York University, and the London School of Economics. He has also provided expert advice and training to the EU and other state and non-state entities on emerging digital disinformation threats and Gulf regional politics. During his PhD, he was also the director of the NGO Bahrain Watch, where he was instrumental in securing high-profile awards from organizations such as Access Now, Lush, Hivos, and the Nexus Foundation.
Jones' contributions to academia have been recognized with multiple awards. His PhD thesis was awarded the 2016 Best Thesis by the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies (AGAPS). In 2021, he received the UK Alumni Professional Achievement award from the British Council in Qatar. His book Digital Authoritarianism was recognized in Foreign Affairs’ 2023 Books of the Year list. His commitment to teaching has been acknowledged at both Exeter University and HBKU, where he has won several prizes. His interdisciplinary approach is evident in that he has developed and taught courses on subjects such as war, violence, and revolution in the Middle East, digital media and communication, digital propaganda and misinformation, and Gulf politics and history.
In addition to his academic roles, Jones is a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Council for Global Affairs. His expertise in digital repression, disinformation, and human rights has led to non-resident fellowships with the NGO Democracy for the Middle East Now and the Committee for Academic Freedom at the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). His work on combating Islamophobia and hate speech has also earned him an affiliate position at the Center for Security, Race, and Rights at Rutgers University.
Jones is known for his pioneering analysis of disinformation campaigns. From identifying dozens of fake journalists in a 2020 joint investigation with The Daily Beast to uncovering state-sponsored bots aimed at influencing U.S. politicians, his investigative work has garnered significant attention. His analysis of disinformation surrounding the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was recognized by The New York Times in their “quote of the day” on October 20th, 2018. Additionally, his investigative thoroughness led him to challenge the U.K. Foreign Office in a tribunal over information regarding a British policeman accused of torture in Bahrain during the 1970s. The tribunal was featured by Reuters in 2015.
Beyond academia, Jones has written extensively for major international media outlets, including The Washington Post, CNN, Time Magazine, The Independent, and The New Statesman. His insights on bots, trolls, and disinformation have been featured in The New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian. He regularly contributes a column to Al Jazeera English and frequently appears on BBC, LBC, CBC News, and other media platforms.
Publications
Single-Authored Books
Jones, M.O. (2020). Political Repression in Bahrain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jones, M.O. (2022). Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East. London: Hurst/OUP.
Edited Books
Jones, M.O., Porter, R., & Valeri, M. (2018). Gulfization of the Arab World. Gerlach Press.
Jones, M.O., & Shehabi, A. (Eds.) (2015). The Bahrain Uprising. London: Zed Books Ltd.
Journal Articles and Peer-Reviewed Publications
[Forthcoming] Lysa, C., Hubail, F., & Jones, M.O (Eds). (2024). "Re-orienting the Gulf." Special Issue: Journal of Arabian Studies.
[Forthcoming] Jones, M.O. (2024). “At the digital coalface: Exploring the dangers of digitality and researching authoritarian contexts”. Daedalus
Sallam, H., Alemdaroğlu, A., Jones, M.O., & Schwartz, K. (Eds.) (2023). "Journalism and Activism in an Age of Transnational Repression." Middle East Report, Issue 307/308, Summer/Fall 2023. MERIP
Jones, M.O. (2023). "Big Tech’s Partnership with Authoritarianism." in Sallam, H., Alemdaroğlu, A., Jones, M.O., & Schwartz, K. (Eds) Middle East Report, Issue 307/308, Summer/Fall 2023. Link
Jones, M.O. (2023). "The ‘Bot-iful’ Game: Football, Social Media Manipulation, and Transnational Gulf Politics." Politics of Sports in the Middle East. POMEPS
Jones, M.O. (2023). "The New, Unsustainable Order of Arab Digital Autocracy." Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Link
Jones, M.O. (2022). "The Two Faces of Digitalization in Politics: The Role of Social Networks in Political Mobilizations and the Threat of Digital Authoritarianism in the MENA Region." IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook 2022. Link
Jones, M.O. (2021/22). "State-Aligned Misogynistic Disinformation on Arabic Twitter: The Attempted Silencing of an Al Jazeera Journalist." Open Information Science, 5(1), 278-297. DOI
Jones, M.O. (2021). "Tracking Adversaries and First Responding to Disinfo Ops: The Evolution of Deception and Manipulation Tactics on Gulf Twitter." POMEPS. Link
Jones, M.O. (2020). "Disinformation Superspreaders: The Weaponization of COVID-19 Fake News in the Persian Gulf and Beyond." Global Discourse Journal. DOI
Jones, M. (2020). "Digital De-Citizenship: The Rise of the Digital Denizen in Bahrain." International Journal of Middle East Studies, 52(4), 740-747. DOI
Jones, M.O. (2019). "Propaganda, Fake News, and Fake Trends: The Role of Twitter Bots in the Qatar Gulf Crisis." International Journal of Communication, 13. Link
Jones, M.O. (2018, November). "How the Saudi Regime Silences Those Who Discuss the Khashoggi Affair Online." Jadaliyya and JadMag. Link
Jones, M.O. (2017). "Satire, Social Media and Revolutionary Cultural Production in the Bahrain Uprising: From Utopian Fiction to Political Satire." Communication and the Public, 2(2), 136-153. DOI
Jones, M.O. (2017). "Nation Branding and Celebrity Diplomacy in Bahrain." Celebrity Studies, May 2017. DOI
Jones, M.O. (2016). "Automated Sectarianism and Pro-Saudi Propaganda on Twitter." Tactical Tech. Link
Jones, M.O. (2016). "Saudi Intervention, Sectarianism, and De-Democratization in Bahrain’s Uprising." Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, 39, 251-279. DOI
Jones, M.O., Shehabi, A., & Desmukh, F. (2016, December). "The IISS: The Myth and Ethics of Think-Tank Independence." Jadaliyya - جدلية. Link
Jones, M.O. (2013). "Social Media, Surveillance and Social Control in the Bahrain Uprising." Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 9(2), 71-91. DOI
Chapters in Books
[Forthcoming] Jones, M.O. (2024). "Social Media Manipulation and Peacebuilding." In Palgrave Macmillan.
[Forthcoming] Jones, M.O. (2024). "Civil actors under attack: Digital authoritarianism and the weaponization of social media." In Routledge Handbook of Conflict and Peacebuilding Communication. Routledge.
Jones, M.O. (2024). "Deception Supply Chains in the Middle East, 2010–2023" In The Routledge Handbook on the Influence Industry. Routledge.10.4324/9781003256878-13
Jones, M.O. (2021). "Media Assisted Authoritarianism Bahrain." Open Book Publishers, Spring 2021. DOI
Jones, M.O. (2019). "Mapping Sectarian Slurs in the Middle East Twittersphere." In Politics in Transition. Koyo Shobo Publishers [Japan].
Jones, M., Porter, R., & Valeri, M. (2018). "Introduction." In Gulfization of the Arab World. Gerlach Press.
Jones, M.O. (2018). "Contesting the Iranian Revolution as a Turning-Point Discourse in Bahraini Contentious Politics." In Valeri, M., & Porter, R. (Eds.), Gulfization of the Arab World: Exeter Critical Gulf Series. Gerlach Press.
Jones, M.O. (2017). "Social Media in the Bahrain Uprising: From Hope to Despair." In Atanasova, D., Reilly, P., & Veneti, A. (Eds.), Politics, Protest, Emotion: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. PressBooks.
Jones, M.O. (2016). "Political History of Bahrain." In The Middle East and North Africa 2017. Oxford: Routledge.
Jones, M.O. (2016). "Social Media and Unethical P2P Diplomacy in the Bahrain Uprising." In Gunter, B., Al-Areshi, M., & Al-Jaber, K. (Eds.), Social Media and the Arab Uprisings. London: I.B. Tauris.
Jones, M.O. (2015). "Social Media, Surveillance, and Cyberpolitics in the Bahrain Uprising." In Jones, M.O., & Shehabi, A. (Eds.), Bahrain’s Uprising. London: Zed Books.
Jones, M.O. (2015). "Rotten Apples and Rotten Orchards: Police Deviance, Brutality, and Unaccountability in Bahrain." In Jones, M.O., & Shehabi, A. (Eds.), Bahrain’s Uprising. London: Zed Books.
Jones, M.O., & Shehabi, A. (Eds.) (2015). "Bahrain's Uprising: The Struggle for Democracy in the Gulf." In Jones, M.O., & Shehabi, A. (Eds.), Bahrain’s Uprising. London: Zed Books.
Jones, M.O. (2008). "An Inconvenient Height Above Sea Level." In Lucantoni, P. (Ed.), Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language Workbook 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Opinion articles and analysis
Jones, M.O. (2024). "Is Israel Carrying Out AI-Assisted Genocide in Gaza?" The New Arab. Link
Jones, M.O. (2024). "Fact or Fiction: Israel Needs Fake Nurses to Justify Killing Gaza Babies." Al Jazeera English. Link
Jones, M.O. (2024). “The Qatar Plot: How a covert influence campaign helped Europe’s far right.” Al Jazeera English. Link
Jones, M.O. (2024). “Fact or fiction? Israel’s evacuation plan for the Palestinians in Rafah” Al Jazeera English. Link
Jones, M.O. (2023). "Fact or Fiction? Israeli Maps and AI Do Not Save Palestinian Lives." Al Jazeera. Link
Jones, M.O. (2023). "Fact or Fiction: The Propaganda War Won’t Stop, Even During a Truce." Al Jazeera. Link
Jones, M.O. (2023). "Fact or Fiction: Israel Needs Fake Nurses to Justify Killing Gaza Babies." Al Jazeera. Link
Jones, M.O. (2023). "Analysis: Why Is So Much Anti-Palestinian Disinformation Coming From India?" Al Jazeera. Link
Jones, M.O. (2023). "Israel’s Comically Bad Disinfo Proves They’re Losing PR War." The Daily Beast. Link
Jones, M.O. (2022). "When It Comes To Disinformation, America's Gulf Allies Are Worse Than the Russians." TIME Magazine, August. Link
Jones, M.O. (2022). "UK Press Coverage of Qatar 2022 Reeks of Hypocrisy and Orientalism." The New Arab. Link
Jones, M.O. (2022). "Google’s Ad on Amnesty’s Apartheid Report Whitewashes Israel's Crimes." Middle East Eye. Link
Jones, M.O. (2022). "Shireen Abu Akleh and Israel's Disinformation Playbook." The New Arab. Link
Jones, M.O. (2022). "Lessons on Digital Authoritarianism From a Pro-Beijing Disinformation Network." Power 3.0 Blog, International Forum for Democratic Studies.
Jones, M.O. (2022). "Why Elon Musk's Twitter Buyout Is Bad for the Middle East." The New Arab. Link
Jones, M.O. (2021). "Candiru: Israel's New Spyware Supercharges Global Digital Authoritarianism." Middle East Eye. Link
Jones, M.O. (2021). "Anti-Democratic Disinformation Fueled by the Gulf Dominates Arabic Twitter." DAWN MENA. Link
Jones, M.O. (2021). "Tunisia Crisis Prompts Surge in Foreign Social Media Manipulation." Al Jazeera. Link
Jones, M.O. (2021). "Alaa Al Siddiq: The Smearing of an Emirati Hero." Doha News. Link
Jones, M.O. (2021). "Pegasus: How Israel Supercharges Digital Authoritarianism." The New Arab. Link
Jones, M.O. (2020, May 19). "Anatomy of a Disinformation Campaign: The Coup That Never Was." Al Jazeera. Link
Jones, M.O. (2019). "Saudi, UAE Twitter Takedowns Won’t Curb Rampant Disinformation on Arab Twitter." Washington Post. Link
Jones, M.O. (2019). "Saudi Trolls Hijacking Dead People's Twitter Accounts to Amplify Riyadh Propaganda." The New Arab. Link
Jones, M.O. (2018). "A Plague of Twitter Bots Is Roiling the Middle East." Washington Post. Link
Jones, M.O. (2017). "Hacking, Bots, and Information Wars in the Qatar Spat." Washington Post. Link
Jones, M.O. (2017). "From Geneva to London: How Bahrain Tries to Game Human Rights Accountability in the International Arena." Orient XXI. Link
Jones, M.O. (2017). "How a Spate of Killings in Bahrain Has Raised Suspicions of State Brutality." The Conversation. Link
Jones, M.O. (2017). "A Triple Execution in Bahrain Has Provoked National Outrage – and International Silence." The Conversation. Link
Jones, M.O. (2017). "Polarised Futures? Trump’s Visit Stokes Sectarianism and Repression in the Gulf." Middle East Solidarity Magazine. Link
Jones, M.O. (2017). "Qatar Say Their Official News Agency Website Was Hacked: Twitter Bots Suggest They May Have a Point." AmanaTech. Link
Jones, M.O. (2017). "Uncovering a Twitter Bot Army Mobilised Against Al Jazeera." AmanaTech. Link
Jones, M.O. (2015). "Bahrain’s Uprising: Resistance and Repression in the Gulf [Book Summary]." Open Democracy. Link
Jones, M.O. (2015). "Banned from Entry to Bahrain." Pen Atlas, 8 October 2015. Link
Jones, M.O. (2015). "The More Appalling the Human Rights Record, the Better the Customer at London’s Arms Fairs." The Independent, 15 September 2015. Link
Jones, M.O. (2015). "Why Aren’t the Gulf States Taking More Syrian Refugees?" New Statesman, 8 September 2015. Link
Jones, M.O. (2015). "The Deepening Divide in Post-Election Bahrain." LSE Blog, 20 January 2015. Link
Jones, M.O. (2014). "Bahrain’s Elections – Husbands, iPhones and Jobs." Middle East Eye, 21 November 2014. Link
Jones, M.O. (2014). "Bahrain’s State Unaccountability." Muftah, 17 April 2014. Link
Jones, M.O. (2014). "Bahrain’s Celebrity Anti-Diplomacy." Your Middle East, 20 March 2014.
Jones, M.O. (2013). "Bahrain’s Silent Spring: What Happened to the “Pearl Revolution?”" CNN, 14 August 2013. Link
Jones, M.O. (2013). "The History of British Involvement in Bahrain’s Internal Security." Open Democracy, 8 August 2013. Link
Jones, M.O. (2013). "Little Hope for Bahrain as World Turns Away." Your Middle East, 7 August 2013
Jones, M.O. (2013). "Putting a Price Tag on Repression." Your Middle East, 6 May 2013.
Jones, M.O. (2013). "How the Al Khalifas Took a Quarter of Bahrain’s Wealth." Your Middle East, 29 April 2013.
Jones, M.O. (2013). "Bahrain’s History of Political Injustice." Your Middle East, 29 April 2013.
Jones, M.O. (2012). "Bahrain Special: The Steel Rods of the Police." EA, 16 January 2012. Link
Jones, M.O. (2012). "Bahrain Video Feature: Celebrating Creative Resistance." EA, 21 January 2012. Link
Jones, M.O. (2012). "Bahrain Analysis: Navigating a Rising Tide of Violence." EA, 24 January 2012. Link
Jones, M.O. (2012). "Bahrain’s PR Machine Threatens Free Speech." Index on Censorship, 14 February 2012. Link
Jones, M.O. (2012). "Bahrain Activists’ Trouble with Trolls." Index on Censorship, 15 May 2012. Link
Podcasts
Jones, M.O. (24/03/2024). "Amber Heard Trolling" Tortoise. Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiY55ri2K0k
Jones, M.O. (2020, April). "Race to the Bottom Podcast." Race to the Bottom Podcast. Apple Podcasts
Jones, M.O. (2020, July). "Artificial Journalists, Government Versus the Robots." Government vs. the Robots. Apple Podcasts
Jones, M.O. (2020, July). "Fake Journalists Are the Latest Disinformation Twist." Angry Planet. Podcast
Jones, M.O. (2019, May). "Growing up in Bahrain." SEPAD. Podcast
Jones, M.O. (2020, June). "Digital Deception in the Middle East." Arab Digest. SoundCloud
Jones, M.O. (2021). "Counter-Revolutions Vs. Counter-Marginalization Movements: (Re)Visiting the Online Tug-of-War a Decade After the Arab Spring." Ox.ac.uk. Podcast
Jones, M.O. (2023). "Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East." Institute of Development Studies. IDS
Jones, M.O. (2022, October). "Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East & Authoritarian Adaptation." Project on Middle East Political Science. Podcast
Jones, M.O. (2022, September). "Real News, Fake News, and No News." CSIS, Babel, Apple Podcasts. Podcast
Jones, M.O. (2023, January). "Digital Surveillance in the Middle East." Al Jazeera. Link
Book Reviews
Jones, M.O. (2012). Political Change in the Arab Gulf States, Tetreault, M.A. Et al (Eds.). Journal of Arabian Studies: Arabia, the Gulf and the Red Sea, 2(2), 243-245.
Jones, M.O. (2011). Palestine Online: Transnationalism, the Internet and the Construction of Identity by Aouragh, M. Media, War and Conflict, 5(1), 92-94.
Reports
Gunter, B. et al. (2012). UK News Media Review 2012. Department of Media and Communications. Link (accessed 22 February 2015).
Jones, M.O. and Dsouza, S (2024). The Qatar Plot, TheQatarPlot.com
Media
New York Times
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Police Surveillance Tech in Dubai: How It's Changing the Game"
Link: New York Times
The Guardian
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "How False Online Claims About Southport Knife Attack Spread So Rapidly"
Link: The Guardian
BBC News
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Sydney Disinformation: How Social Media Misinformation Spread Post-Attack"
Link: BBC News
Washington Post
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Russian Propagandists Encouraged Buying Twitter Blue Check Verifications"
Link: Washington Post
Politico
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Islamophobia: UK Far-Right Violence and the Role of Race Riots in Southport"
Link: Politico
Al Jazeera English
Type: Interview Video
Title: "Gaza: The Consequences of Continued Conflict"
Link: Al Jazeera English
Financial Times
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "UAE COP28 Climate Controversies and the Online Battle"
Link: Financial Times
Reuters
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Feature: Israel-Hamas War Dire Disinformation Spreads Globally"
Link: Reuters
Bloomberg
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Starmer Tested by Far-Right Violence in Wake of Child Killings"
Link: Bloomberg
CNN
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Internet Shutdowns and Control"
Link: CNN
The Atlantic
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Gaza Hospital Explosion and the Viral Misinformation Meme Machine"
Link: The Atlantic
NPR
Type: Interview Radio
Title: "UK's Worst Riots in Years Incited by Online Disinformation About Asylum Seekers"
Link: NPR
NBC News
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Far-Right Misinformation Fuels Southport Stabbings and Protests"
Link: NBC News
Times Radio
Type: Interview Radio
Title: "Musk and the Social Media Wars: Disinformation and Hashtag Politics"
Link: Times Radio
AFP (Agence France-Presse)
Type: Comment Newspaper
Title: "Southport Was Just the Spark: UK Hit by Unrest as Far-Right Exploits Knife Attack Tragedy"
Link: AFP
