Only ten out of the twenty-six platforms and organizations describe audience interaction with them on their websites and through social media sites as “high.” Observation of the accounts of most of these platforms on social media pages shows weak interaction in terms of likes, comments, and shares. This may be due to several reasons, the most important of which is the lack of experience of these platforms in promoting their content in an attractive manner, their inability to reach a wider audience, and Facebook’s restriction of some Arabic content under the pretext of violation of its community standards. Some of these organizations lack a formal, clear, detailed set of principles, methodologies, or correction policies. Some are run by volunteers, some lack stable funding, some work with very small teams, and some are still beginners. 4.2 CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF INFORMATION DISORDER The concept of information disorder is still vague and complex in the Arab world. All twenty-six platforms targeted by the survey agree that information disorder refers to the massive spread of mis- and disinformation, especially through social networking sites. This affects people and distorts their views and knowledge negatively. According to these platforms, information disorder in the region appears in various ways, including the spread of disinformation among different political parties, attempts by government to direct public opinion, media wars between political entities, and attempts to fuel armed conflicts by spreading disinformation in conflict zones. This is in addition to attempts to exploit security issues and the political situation in certain countries to create confusion and social rifts. These organizations see many causes for the spread of information disorder in the region. Some of these are political, regional, and religious divisions; external interventions; conflict in war zones; media blackout policies and the lack of transparency by governments. This is in addition to the division of the media scene and control over the media. Other factors include poor political awareness, poor media literacy, and the generally poor factchecking abilities among citizens in a setting where democracy and good governance are lacking. I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH Additionally, the organizations agree that those who benefit from information disorder in Arab countries are the ruling regimes, political parties, warring parties in states embroiled in conflict, external beneficiaries, religious organizations, and non-professional media outlets. The majority of the fact-checking organizations said that government agencies in their countries are not working to confront information disorder. In their opinion, the main reasons for this is that they themselves benefit from information disorder and are a primary source of it. Governments are also not transparent, and combating information disorder is not on their list of priorities. Additionally, they do not have the expertise, staff, or time needed for this type of work. 4.3 CHALLENGES FACING THE PLATFORMS AND REQUIREMENTS TO DEVELOP THEIR WORK Most fact-checking initiatives who completed the questionnaire confirmed that there is a lack of cooperation among the entities who are active in the fight against information disorder in the region. The reasons for this are varied, with the most prominent being intense competition, the practice of copying fact-checked pieces due to unprofessionalism and a “scoop” mentality, poor communication, the lack of a unified fact-checking guide in Arabic, differences in orientations and interests, and security concerns. The twenty-six initiatives and organizations that responded to our questionnaire face many challenges. The most significant of these is lack of funding and poor financial capabilities, followed by difficulty in accessing reliable information, data, and sources. Further challenges include a lack of staff training and development, a lack of public interaction and interest, the inability to reach a larger audience, a lack of legal protection, and the insufficient use of technology that could facilitate their work. In order to continue developing their work, the initiatives and organizations need more funding and material support, as well as training and development of expertise. Access to reliable information and data must be promoted, and the tools used by the organizations need to be further developed. They also require legal support and protection. As for the solutions that could effectively combat the spread of mis- and disinformation in the region, in their responses to the questionnaires, the Middle East and North Africa – 3 3