Other conspiracy theories were promoted by far-right groups on Facebook, 4chan, Reddit, and Telegram. These messages mainly focused on spreading false claims that the blast was caused by an Israeli bomb or missile attack on a Hezbollah weapons depot. For example, a photograph was spread of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, apparently pointing at the exact site of the explosion during an address to the UN General Assembly in 2018. This photo was used as proof that Israel was to blame for the blast. However, Netanyahu was actually pointing to a completely different district in the city of Beirut, a district that he claimed was a location where Hezbollah was hiding weapons (Spring, 2020). Network Data from NetBlocks internet observatory confirmed that internet connectivity in Lebanon fell significantly in the aftermath of the explosion. The Internet outage was attributed to the impact of the blast on nearby network infrastructure (NetBlocks, 2020). Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, handed in his resignation following demonstrations over corruption and negligence blamed for the blast (AFP 2020). Bots and fake accounts: According to research by the Samir Kassir Eyes Center for Media Freedom, Hezbollah stands out as a particularly efficient organization at using digital tools to spread its messages. For example, on October 25th 2019, during a speech made by Hezbollah’s secretary general, there was evidence of a mass distribution of hashtags in his favor. However, up to 80% of the accounts spreading these hashtags were created on the same day, indicating the use of bots (Atallah, 2019). One particular example was the rising prevalence of accounts tweeting the hashtag "In Nasrallah We Trust" (#‫)السید_نصرهللا_ثقتنا‬, in reference to Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In research conducted by reporters at Euronews regarding the prevalence of bots in Lebanon’s online sphere, results showed numerous accounts of hashtags being tweeted in an identical pattern and in similar intervals, both with pro- and anti-government hashtags. The research further emphasized that accounts tweeting “In Nasrallah We Trust” were overwhelmingly displaying automated behavior (Skinner, 2019). Harassment: Another technique used in the country is the harassment of journalists via online platforms, especially female, both by straightforward spamming and by spreading disinformation about them personally. For female journalists, this often involves extreme vulgarity, as seen in the case of Dima Sadek, a famed Lebanese reporter, in which fake images of Sadek in compromising positions were distributed. Other journalists were also the target of various conspiracy theories, such as claims that they are agents for foreign powers, most notably Israel (Caramazza, 2019). Incitement: Hezbollah-affiliated social media accounts, including those by Al-Manar, often includes content that incites violence. One such example was a Twitter post with a picture of the ruins of the US Embassy in Beirut, after the detonation of a car bomb by Hezbollah in 1983 that killed over 300 people. The picture was supplemented with a caption reading “This is how embassies should be disciplined. This is what Imad taught us”, in reference to the Hezbollah military commander behind the attacks, Imad Mughniyeh. On November 2019, Twitter suspended several accounts affiliated with Hezbollah, including Al-Manar’s official account in Arabic, English, French and Spanish, and accounts of figures associated with the organization (The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, 2019). A Twitter spokesperson later commented that “there is no place on Twitter for illegal terrorist organizations and violent extreme groups” (Haaretz, 2019). 242