SMEX

SMEX, originally Social Media Exchange, is a non-profit digital rights organization based in Beirut, Lebanon. It works on privacy, freedom of expression, surveillance and digital security across what it calls West Asia and North Africa (WANA), with a focus on Arabic-speaking countries.^[1][2] It is registered as a non-governmental organization in Lebanon and is a member of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).^[3] It was founded in 2008 by Jessica Dheere and Mohamad Najem. Najem has been its executive director since 2017.^[1][2][4]

SMEX first trained bloggers and journalists in digital media. Over time it moved into research, legal documentation and advocacy on digital rights. It also runs a digital security help desk, a legal database called Cyrilla and an annual regional conference, Bread&Net.^[2:1][4:1] In 2020 Ranking Digital Rights described SMEX as "the leading NGO in the Arab region working at the intersection of technology and human rights".^[5]

History

In a 2023 interview with the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), Najem said SMEX grew out of work after the 2006 Lebanon War. He and a journalist partner began using technology to train journalists, and later other civil society groups. SMEX gives its founding year as 2008 and describes its origins in the political blogging movement of the time.^[4:1][1] Dheere is identified as a co-founder in Princeton Alumni Weekly and by Ranking Digital Rights.^[2][5]

In its early years SMEX taught people how to start blogs, produce audio, develop digital content and set up Facebook pages. After the Arab Spring of 2011, it began collecting and analyzing laws that affect online rights in the region. That work became Cyrilla.^[2:1] Najem dates Cyrilla to 2012.^[4] Dheere led SMEX for about a decade. She was then a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society in 2018–19, and became director of Ranking Digital Rights in 2020. She remained on SMEX's board after leaving.^[2][5] In the same interview, Dheere said SMEX had never really faced government interference.^[2]

Programs

• Digital safety help desk. It offers security support and forensic checks of phones to activists, journalists, lawyers and civil society groups facing online threats. In 2023 Najem said it received about 60 requests a month.^[4:1] SMEX now also lists a Threat Lab for rapid-response forensic support.^[6]
• Cyrilla. A database of laws and case law that affect internet users. According to Dheere, it later expanded to cover Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and other regions.^[2:1][4]
• Muhal. A database of cases in which people in Lebanon were detained over speech.^[2]
• Bread&Net. An annual conference on digital rights in the region. Najem said the 2023 edition ran for three days with about 80 sessions.^[4:1]
• Digital Rights Fund and fellowships. Small grants to grassroots digital rights initiatives, and a program to train and mentor new advocates.^[6]
• Publishing. In 2023 Najem said SMEX published about 15 pieces a month in Arabic and English.^[4]

Advocacy and research

Lebanon

SMEX has made submissions to the UN Universal Periodic Review of Lebanon. One was a joint 2020 submission with the London-based group Small Media. It raised criminal defamation prosecutions over online speech, reported monitoring of protesters on social media, mobile data shutdowns in areas such as Arsal, and weak protection of personal data held by state bodies.^[7] Najem has argued that Lebanon's relative lack of digital regulation leaves room for activism. In the MERIP interview he said: "Lebanon, with all its problems, has a lot of freedom that we are using to actually be active."^[4]

During the 2024 Israel–Hezbollah war, SMEX documented digital tactics used against people in Lebanon. These included threatening text messages from unknown senders, which Lebanese officials attributed to Israel, sponsored social media ads from Israeli military spokespeople, and WhatsApp messages from foreign numbers.^[8]

Saudi Arabia and Wikipedia

In January 2023 SMEX and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) published a joint statement. It reported the imprisonment of two Saudi Arabic Wikipedia administrators, Osama Khalid and Ziyad al-Sofiani. It also alleged that the Saudi government had "infiltrated" Wikipedia by recruiting senior administrators in the country.^[9] International media covered the statement widely.^[10][11][12]

The Wikimedia Foundation said the statement contained "material inaccuracies" and that its own investigation had not found Saudi government infiltration. It also said SMEX and DAWN had not shared the statement with it beforehand, and that the unnamed sources it relied on "can get things wrong".^[10][12] On January 18, 2023, SMEX published an update to the statement. It said the Foundation had disputed only whether all 16 banned users were in Saudi Arabia, had not denied the statement's specific allegations, and had not published the findings of its investigation.^[13] The Foundation has still not published those findings, so the dispute remains unresolved.^[10]

Technology companies

Najem has criticized large technology companies' ties to governments in the region. He told MERIP that platforms played a "big role" during the Arab Spring, but that since about 2014 they have "normalized their presence with these regimes to make more profits". As examples he cited Saudi Arabia's shareholdings in Twitter and Uber.^[4]

Sources and limitations

Much of what is publicly known about SMEX's programs comes from SMEX itself or from interviews with its founders. These include the figures for help desk requests and conference sessions. No independent evaluation of its programs was found. Its annual reports and funding sources, if published, would help readers judge its scale and independence.