Enab Baladi – Jana al-Issa
Under the title “Protecting societal values from corrupt content spread through some electronic platforms,” the criminal security branch of the Syrian government’s Ministry of Interior executed an arrest campaign targeting a group of content creators residing in regime-controlled areas.
In mid-September, the Ministry of Interior announced that it had arrested a person responsible for several Syrian electronic platforms that provide satirical entertainment content. The announcement was accompanied by a video showing the arrest of seven people.
Mohamad Assaf, an officer in the Cybercrime Combat branch, said in a video broadcast by the Ministry of Interior that the campaign was carried out by the criminal security branch as part of monitoring electronic platforms on social media that publish content offensive to public morals and decency.
Strict pursuit
This isn’t the first such campaign; the Ministry of Interior has previously conducted campaigns targeting content creators whose content allegedly contradicts the general values of Syrian society, according to the Ministry.
The Ministries of Justice and Interior in the Syrian regime’s government have also previously directed the pursuit of social media platform administrators for publishing “inappropriate and indecent” content.
On September 9, the local Al-Watan newspaper reported that 15 social media platforms are being prosecuted, and search warrants have been issued for their owners, based on reports and complaints filed by the Ministry of Information against these platform owners without revealing their identities or the names of their platforms.
Al-Watan, quoting judicial sources in Damascus, mentioned that the owners of these platforms “exceeded the limits by publishing clips and posts inappropriate for Syrian society, leading to their prosecution to take legal action against them.”
This move comes at a time when short scenes (sketches) and video clips performed by obscure individuals or secondary actors, often with suggestive and sexual undertones, are spreading in an attempt to garner views.
These clips are adopted by electronic platforms that publish their content via social media.
These sketches aim to highlight a specific issue in society, criticizing it and drawing attention to it, often in a comedic tone, with a duration of between one and ten minutes.
Rejected content by society
These platforms, which provide “inappropriate” or morally unrefined content filled with sexual innuendo or even black comedy relying on sexual hints, negatively reflect on moral values in Eastern societies, including Syrian society, as seen by Omar al-Sahnawi, director of a language training center in As-Suwayda governorate in southern Syria.
These platforms have recently gained significant prominence, according to al-Sahnawi, who explained that this could be measured by the very high view counts they receive.
The main reason for the spread of these platforms, according to him, is weak media oversight, considering that the impact of this content on people’s lives was apparent through the spread of foreign habits in society, with cohabitation or illicit sexual relationships being among the most prominent.
For her part, Layal Hajjar, a civil activist residing in As-Suwayda governorate, believes that the spread of these videos is due to the nature, customs, and traditions of society, and its attraction to such content, given the religious constraints and the sensitivity of concepts such as honor and morals deeply ingrained in societal thinking. Therefore, any “immoral” content is strange to these communities and sparks curiosity, making people want to watch it.
Ammar Talib, a university student living in Daraa governorate, told Enab Baladi that he does not intentionally follow the “immoral” content spread on social media because it violates ethical and religious values.
Talib believes that the high view counts for this type of videos are due to them being watched by children and teenagers without supervision, adding that he supports the idea of punishing those running these platforms because they promote incorrect ideas, especially among the growing generation.
A vague accusation
The regime fights these platforms under the cybercrimes law it enacted in 2022, which several human rights organizations described as an additional tool “to suppress freedom of expression.”
The local site “Snack Syrian” pointed out that Article “26” of the cybercrimes law adopted by the Ministry of Interior to arrest the latest batch of content creators is titled “Crimes Against Modesty or Decency,” but this article does not apply to the cases of these platforms whose owners were detained.
Article “26” of the cybercrimes law concerning crimes against modesty or decency stipulates:
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Shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to a year and a fine from one million to two million pounds anyone who processes still or moving images, conversations, or audio recordings of people using information technology tools to become contrary to modesty or decency and sends them to or shows them to others or threatens to publish them through the network. The penalty is increased to imprisonment from a year to two years and a fine from two to three million pounds if the offender publishes them on the network.
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Shall be punished by imprisonment from two to three years and a fine from three to four million pounds anyone who threatens to publish or publishes on the network still or moving images, conversations, or audio recordings that are contrary to modesty or decency of people, even if obtained with their consent. The penalty is increased to temporary imprisonment from five to seven years and a fine from four to five million pounds if the crime is committed against a minor.
Many legal experts agree with the report that the charge of “insulting the values and morals of Syrian society” is vague and without standards, as any content creator can be arrested and charged with this accusation due to a lack of clear standards for content production, the prohibitions to avoid when publishing on social media, and clarifying the laws upon which content creators are prosecuted.
The Lebanese site “Al-Modon” reported, quoting unnamed sources that after the recent arrest campaign, the Syrian capital, Damascus, witnessed a mass exodus of digital platform owners on social media into Lebanon due to the arrest campaign by the Cybercrime Combat branch of the criminal security branch.
Common interest
The regime’s campaign against “immoral” content creators cannot be considered a positive step towards regulating content, nor can it be seen as imposing an opinion and repressing freedoms, as viewed by Syrian writer and scriptwriter Hafez Karkout.
Karkout told Enab Baladi that we are facing a regime that primarily works on “pacifying society”. It is a regime that permissibly trades in drugs and stands behind dramas aired on screens in recent years, which have faced much criticism related to the values of Syrian society in particular.
The regime views such drama as a message conveying that Syria enjoys a high ceiling of freedoms, according to Karkout’s perspective, but it now seizes the opportunity to send a different kind of message by showing no clear areas within explicit laws that can be relied upon for legal opinions, indicating a state of chaos in this context.
Karkout considered that the regime can regulate the content of social media platforms with a firm grip if there is a genuine desire, and the Syrian regime may not have a significant interest in regulating it as it is a partner with them in dismantling society.