Diaspora communities across Europe aren’t watching Western news, they’re consuming state propaganda. Here’s why it matters.
Dre Lapiello
Nov 21, 2025 - 3:17 PM
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Parallel Media Ecosystems
Amid the ongoing Gaza war in 2025, Al Jazeera broadcast a highly orchestrated video showing the release of three Israeli hostages. Masked Hamas gunmen staged the scene with meticulous care; it was perfectly lit and presented like a Hollywood premiere, designed for maximum propaganda impact. Within hours, this footage had spread across Arabic-language social media platforms, reaching millions of viewers from Ramallah to Detroit to Tower Hamlets in London.
For many Western audiences, this appeared as a single media event, yet the reality is far more complex. The same footage, when viewed by Arabic-speaking communities in cities such as London, Paris, and Berlin, arrived stripped of critical context or framing. There was no accompanying analysis of Hamas’s propaganda tactics nor mention of Al Jazeera’s Qatari state funding. Instead, viewers received the raw theatrical display of power exactly as Hamas intended.
This situation highlights a major challenge in European societies today: millions of Muslim residents live within parallel information universes shaped not by the BBC, CNN, or other Western news outlets, but by media funded and controlled by foreign governments and embedded in Arabic- and Turkish-language channels. These media ecosystems operate under different journalistic and informational norms and deliver a worldview often at odds with Western perspectives.
Imagine standing outside a Turkish coffee shop in Brussels, walking through a Middle Eastern neighborhood in Manchester, or visiting an Arab community center in Dearborn. What you will rarely see are screens showing BBC World or CNN. Instead, phones scroll Al Jazeera Arabic or TRT World, and WhatsApp groups share videos from Telegram channels like Resistance News Network. Conversations in such communities are shaped by sources that operate under rules unlike those of Western public broadcasters.
How Propaganda Shapes Diaspora Narratives
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has, since its founding in 1998 by former Israeli intelligence officer Yigal Carmon, worked to bridge this language gap by translating content from Arabic, Persian, Urdu-Pashtu, Turkish, and other languages. MEMRI’s translations expose uncomfortable truths: mainstream Arabic television broadcasts content Western audiences would find alarming, including state television praising extremist ideologies, imams calling for jihad, and children’s programs glorifying martyrdom. While MEMRI faces criticism over selectivity, the reality of the content remains uncontested.
Journalist Matti Friedman, who has reported extensively from Israel and Gaza, sheds light on how Hamas and others manipulate media narratives. Journalists working in Gaza often must cooperate with Hamas's strategies to maintain access and ensure their safety, resulting in reporting filtered through propaganda imperatives and limiting critical, independent voices. Consequently, extremist messaging circulates widely within these communities.
The impact of these media ecosystems reaches beyond the Middle East, affecting millions of diaspora residents across Europe. Many young Muslims in Brussels, Berlin, or London have these foreign broadcasts as their primary news source, which shapes their perceptions on international conflicts, domestic politics, identity, and belonging.
A striking example is Arabic Wikipedia’s articles on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, documented to reflect pro-Hamas propaganda. In December 2023, Arabic Wikipedia adopted the colors of the Palestinian flag as its logo, signaling a clear political stance. These articles often present narratives fundamentally different from English versions, leaving bilingual youth wrestling with two contradictory versions of history — a divergence that profoundly influences identity formation.
Turkey’s TRT World equally contributes to this information shaping. While TRT World’s English service projects a polished image for Western audiences, the Turkish-language programming expresses explicitly hostile attitudes toward Israel and its allies. Claims about sterilizing Palestinian children and Holocaust analogies are common. President Erdoğan’s fiery rhetoric, including apocalyptic threats against Israel, further fuels tensions. These messages reach Turkish diaspora communities in Europe largely unfiltered.
Online platforms compound this influence through sophisticated campaigns. Extremist networks have infiltrated major social media communities, including Reddit, Discord, Instagram, and even Wikipedia, spreading narratives favoring Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Organized campaigns manipulate voting and moderation to make extremist propaganda appear as legitimate user-generated content, obscuring its origins and intent.
Consequences for Integration and Democracy
The parallel media ecosystems have real consequences for integration and social cohesion. Young Muslims growing up with narratives portraying Western governments as colonial oppressors and Israel as a genocidal aggressor often develop alienation and mistrust of their host societies. Studies show these communities are more likely to believe conspiracy theories denying the Holocaust or blaming Jews for global challenges, not because of lack of education or intelligence, but due to their information environment.
Anti-extremism efforts often miss this root cause by focusing on language skills, employment, and civic education without addressing the core issue: access to reliable, trustworthy information. Without this, many remain anchored in alternate realities shaped by foreign propaganda that deepens division and fuels alienation.
Matti Friedman’s investigations reveal how journalistic integrity is compromised in conflict zones where propaganda and fear dominate. Western media face pressures and censorship, yet journalists in Arabic-speaking regions confront far graver risks, including imprisonment or death, driving widespread self-censorship and the near absence of critical voices in Arabic-language media.
The ramifications extend beyond individual radicalization. Communities are collectively stigmatized and subjected to increased security surveillance, intensifying tensions. Democratic societies depend on shared facts for dialogue and policymaking, yet when linguistic communities inhabit incompatible truths, democratic cohesion is undermined.
Social media algorithms exacerbate the issue by disproportionately amplifying sensational and extremist content. Research indicates Arabic-language fact-checking organizations avoid politically sensitive claims, fearing government retaliation, allowing falsehoods to embed deeply in social networks. These “data voids” created in moments of crisis become permanent narratives influencing masses.
The Case for Informational Sovereignty
Therefore, Western societies must rethink integration by promoting informational sovereignty, the ability of all communities to access credible, factual content and challenge misinformation. Governments, tech platforms, media, and civil society must collaborate on language-specific efforts to counter authoritarian propaganda.
The stakes could not be higher. During the Gaza war, millions of Arabic speakers viewed Hamas’s orchestrated propaganda on Al Jazeera. Many recognized the manipulation, many did not. Those unaware are neither naive nor malicious; they are trapped in ecosystems lacking institutional safeguards that reveal propaganda.
Your Muslim neighbors are not the problem; state-sponsored propaganda systems are. Until democracies recognize this informational divide and act accordingly, social cohesion and democratic resilience remain at risk. Propaganda transcends borders, flowing with language and identity networks wherever they form.
Europe faces a profound challenge. Beyond language classes and employment programs lie hidden media worlds shaping identities and perceptions often at odds with democratic values. Acknowledging and confronting these realities is essential for building resilient, inclusive societies.
