BBC investigation confirms the existence of a Syrian platform spreading disinformation to the Arab-speaking world

The BBC website published an investigation revealing the existence of a media company registered in Britain that publishes disinformation in the Arabic language. “Yala News” company offers news that is supposed to be impartial. The BBC’s Disinformation Team has shown through its investigation that most of the media company’s content is similar to stories published on Russian state-backed media sites – and that platform actually operates out of Syria.

Yala News has a strong presence on social media. It has no less than 20 pages on the Facebook pages, and it has three million Arab followers. Yala News uploads attractive videos every few hours on its electronic pages, and focuses on publishing stories of interest to its followers, such as: celebrity interviews, comedies, and global politics.

BBC investigations pointed out that Yalla News’ credentials are impartial and independent. However, by looking closely, the team was able to note that the Yalla platform adopts pro-Russian stories, and many of its stories almost match those published on Russian state media the same day.