A private intelligence firm working for the United Arab Emirates reportedly compiled a database containing personal information on more than 11,300 Facebook users residing in the country, identifying individuals considered politically hostile based on their social media activity, according to an investigation published by Drop Site News. The operation, conducted by Geneva-based intelligence firm Alp Services, reportedly involved collecting users' names, locations, employment details and online affiliations, including their interactions with news outlets and political organisations critical of the Emirati government. The findings are based on leaked internal documents from Alp Services, originally obtained by French investigative outlet Mediapart and shared with the European Investigative Collaborations reporting consortium.
According to the investigation, the database was delivered to an Emirati client in January 2018 under a project codenamed "Arnica 2", for which Alp Services received €55,000. Facebook activity used to identify alleged political opponents The intelligence operation reportedly began in July 2017, shortly after the UAE and several other Arab countries imposed a diplomatic and economic blockade on Qatar. During that period, Emirati authorities warned that individuals expressing sympathy for Qatar or criticising the government's measures could face prison sentences of up to 15 years.
According to the leaked documents, Alp Services proposed identifying individuals inside the UAE who had publicly interacted with Facebook pages associated with organisations or media outlets considered hostile to Abu Dhabi. In an internal planning document titled "Social media intelligence to identify hostile supporters in your jurisdiction", the company outlined its proposed methods. "Through our team of in-house social media intelligence analysts, we could identify hundreds of individuals based in your country that publicly 'like' hostile groups, especially the MB," the firm wrote, referring to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The company also offered to use its "proprietary tools and advanced mapping software" to identify potential intelligence leads. A July 2017 report reportedly identified approximately 1,000 individuals described as Muslim Brotherhood supporters living in the UAE. However, the investigation found that the documents did not provide evidence establishing organisational membership beyond Facebook interactions with particular pages.
Those identified included teachers, students, engineers, pharmacists, restaurant workers and individuals who listed employment with police departments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Intelligence firm reportedly outsourced data collection The leaked archive also indicates that Alp Services subcontracted part of the Facebook data collection to Total Trust Investigations, a company based in Bucharest, Romania. In August 2017, Alp employee Lionel Badal reportedly requested that the subcontractor compile names and profile information from Facebook search results into Excel spreadsheets.
"Of course, and as always, this request is strictly confidential," Badal wrote in correspondence cited by the investigation. The operation examined audiences associated with several Arabic-language news outlets, including UAE71, Arabi21, Al Araby, Rassd and other platforms. In October 2017, Alp's Emirati contact, Matar Humaid al-Neyadi, requested a proposal for analysing ten Facebook pages and their audiences.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
