Researchers expose $11m influence operation pushing 'great replacement' content across 30 countries

Researchers have uncovered a years-long, paid influence operation that promoted racist, Islamophobic and anti-Qatar views across 30 countries, with evidence suggesting the campaign was designed to serve Israeli interests.

The investigation, published Thursday, was conducted by Marc Owen Jones, a professor at Northwestern University's Doha campus, and independent researcher Sohan Dsouza. The pair described it as "perhaps one of the biggest digital influence and disinformation operations ever documented."

The campaign is estimated to have cost more than $11 million and generated at least 533 million exposures of social media advertisements on platforms including YouTube, TikTok and Facebook between October 2023 and October 2024. France accounted for roughly a third of all advertisement placements — the highest share of any targeted country. The United Kingdom recorded the largest number of exposures at 154 million, followed by the United States at 100 million.

The ads were timed around elections. Spending in France ran through the months before the June 2024 European Parliament elections; UK buying stopped on May 17, 2024, days before the general election was called. The report warned the campaign remains active ahead of elections in France and Italy in 2027.

Jones said the European ads use the structure of the great-replacement conspiracy theory, casting Qatar in the role that antisemitic versions assign to George Soros — a hidden power directing Muslim immigration to "Islamise" Europe. A separate strand promoted regime change in Iran to European audiences, with ads beginning four days before the US and Israel launched their war on the country.