The airing of the Mu'awiya series has sparked online confrontations between a Saudi-led campaign promoting it and a Shiite campaign criticizing it, both utilizing commercial accounts and automated techniques.

After the announcement that the Mu'awiya series would be aired on several Saudi platforms, the Iraqi Media and Communications Commission issued an official statement banning it. The commission confirmed that it had sent a formal letter to MBC requesting the series' cancellation, warning of legal action against any entity violating the country's media regulations.

In Egypt, the Dean of the Faculty of Media at Al Azhar University, Reda Abdel Wajed Ameen, stated in a phone interview with the local Sada El Balad channel that the series faced significant opposition due to its portrayal of Prophet Mohammad’s companions—something Al Azhar opposes, despite not being a regulatory authority over television content.

Nevertheless, the series sparked widespread discussions on digital platforms under the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series), with Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iraq leading engagement.

Engagement with the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series) began on February 25, 2025, ahead of Ramadan, and peaked on March 2. In just ten days, the hashtag reached 350 million interactions, with an average of 25 million daily engagements, reflecting its widespread presence on social media platforms.

The reach and spread of the hashtag are highly unusual. The proportion of original content did not exceed 10% of the total content, while replies and reposts accounted for over 85% of the content related to the hashtag. This suggests an organized campaign aimed at amplifying discussions around the series.

Saudi Commercial Accounts Promote the Hashtag

Using Meltwater revealed that the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series) first appeared on February 25, 2025, but experienced a rapid surge within just two weeks. It was used 67,000 times on X, with 35,000 users engaging. Total views exceeded 37 million, and its reach surpassed 43 million.

The majority of engagement was concentrated in Saudi Arabia, with over 6,000 more interactions than the next countries on the list, including Yemen, Iraq, the United States, and Iran.

To understand the prevailing trends in the discussion about the series, we attempted to analyze the hashtags and keywords associated with the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series). This provided us with initial indicators regarding the division of the discussion into several directions—such as artistic, historical, and sectarian—but it was not sufficient to fully understand the nature of the interactions within the hashtag, prompting us to conduct a deeper analysis.

We initially extracted a large sample of tweets related to the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series) from 20,000 posts using Meltwater. Then, we analyzed the data to identify a list of the ten accounts that were the most interactive with the hashtag.

At the top of the list is “msiiihe” (an account that contributes to judicial execution invoices), which appears to be a recently created Saudi account based on its profile. Although the code-based analysis we conducted on the account's interaction pattern did not show it to be an automated account, the account's tweets and the nature of its interactions suggest that it is a commercial account used for amplification. It used the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series) along with other popular series hashtags, such as #مسلسل_العتاولة (El ‘Atawla Series), without expressing any specific sentiment. This indicates that the account's goal in interacting with the hashtag was to amplify and promote the series.

However, a code-based analysis of the account's posting times and interaction revealed that the account typically posts intensively at specific times. About half of its interactions occurred within very short time intervals, approximately 60 seconds between each interaction and the next. This suggests that the account may be automated, or at the very least, it could be using a tool to schedule its frequent posts.

The second most interactive account on the list was @xyzxyz4042 (Pest Control Spraying with Warranty), which operates from Riyadh. This account posted 56 interactions—ranging from original posts to retweets and comments—related to the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series). It also used several other trending hashtags to amplify engagement around the hashtag.

Applying the same coding analysis to this account’s interaction times revealed that the account typically posts intensively during specific time windows. Nearly half of its activity occurred with very short intervals—around 60 seconds—between each interaction, making its behavior similar to that of “msiiihe”.

The same pattern was observed with the account @BallhLyn (Interactors for God), which appears from its posts to be a recently created Saudi account. However, a coded analysis of its tweet timing revealed that it operates like an automated account, posting intensively during specific periods with short intervals between tweets. The same behavior was also detected in the accounts @rym_iii and @coOmarali.

Ranked seventh among the most interactive accounts using the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series) was the account "راعي غنم" (Shepherd). It shares several characteristics with the previously mentioned accounts—it's a newly created Saudi account, and its interaction pattern resembles bots. However, it differs from the others in the type of content it posts.

While the previous accounts were primarily commercial in nature, this account stood out for its distinctly political tone. Its content focused on attacking the Islamic political movement in general and directing explicit insults and defamatory language toward the resistance group Hamas. It consistently used the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series) alongside these tweets, seemingly as a way to amplify the hashtag’s reach.

#Muawiya_Scum_of_the_Believers: When Promotion Turns into Denigration

In contrast to the promotion of the series, newly created accounts—identified as bots through posting-time analysis—contributed to spreading sectarian rhetoric through opposing hashtags, such as #معاوية_نعال_المؤمنين (Mu'awiya Scum of the Believers).

The hashtag #معاوية_نعال_المؤمنين (Mu'awiya Scum of the Believers) first appeared on February 27, 2025—two days after the launch of #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series). Its spread intensified as “Mu’awiya Series” reached its peak on March 2, suggesting a correlation and synchronized interaction between the two hashtags across social media platforms.

Engagement with the hashtag relied primarily on comments and retweets, while original content made up only 11% of total interactions related to the hashtag. Iraq topped the list of countries most engaged with the hashtag, followed by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, and Bahrain.

This was clearly reflected in the nature of the negative words associated with the hashtags #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series) and #معاوية_نعال_المؤمنين (Mu'awiya Scum of the Believers), where Iranian terms prominently appeared within the discourse. Additionally, some sectarian phrases became among the most frequently repeated words linked to both hashtags.

Sectarian rhetoric under the hashtag #معاوية_نعال_المؤمنين (Mu'awiya Scum of the Believers) is more clearly evident in the most widely shared and engaged posts. These posts often contain descriptions of Mu'awiya as an infidel, the head of sedition, or the killer of the companions, along with the use of offensive language and insults. This reflects the intensification of sectarian rhetoric in discussions linked to the hashtag.

A Shiite Campaign Opposing the Series

To analyze the most active accounts spreading sectarian rhetoric under the hashtag #معاوية_نعال_المؤمنين (Mu'awiya Scum of the Believers), we collected a sample of 2,723 posts using Meltwater. We then analyzed this data to generate a list of the most active accounts associated with the hashtag.

At the top of the list were the accounts "جلنار فضة" @julanara98 (Silver Julnar) and "أمام المتقين" @AmamAlmtqy37326 (Leader of the Pious), both of which also appeared in the list of the most interactive accounts with the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series). As demonstrated above, these accounts were identified as newly created automated accounts.

In third place among the most interactive accounts with the hashtag #معاوية_نعال_المؤمنين (Mu'awiya Scum of the Believers) was the account @AL_ashtar_2, which appears to be a Shiite Iraqi account. After analyzing posting times and interaction patterns, it was found that the account does not post regularly, suggesting it is not fully automated. However, its engagement pattern is relatively low compared to the high reach and views, which could indicate that the account is semi-automated or uses scheduling tools for its interactions on the platform.

What is particularly striking about the account "Al Ashtar" is the content it posts. The account focuses on sectarian material, accusing Sunni Muslims of infidelity and heresy and uses offensive and derogatory language to insult them.

The same pattern is repeated across the majority of accounts active under the hashtag #معاوية_نعال_المؤمنين (Mu'awiya Scum of the Believers), as they all share common traits: they are newly created Shia accounts that post sectarian content, insulting the Sunni sect and fueling sectarian tensions between Shia and Sunni communities.

Between Promotion and Denigration... There is a Third Voice

An analysis of the activity of influential accounts under the hashtag #مسلسل_معاوية (Mu’awiya Series) revealed a group of accounts which had an interaction pattern that varied from both the Saudi and Shia networks. These accounts focused on criticizing the series from religious, historical, and artistic perspectives. The criticisms centered around the impermissibility of portraying the companions of the Prophet in artistic form according to some jurisprudential schools, as well as the inclusion of scenes that were considered offensive to Muslim religious symbols.

An analysis of the interaction patterns of these accounts revealed that they are genuine accounts. Their interaction patterns differ from the automated engagement seen in accounts promoting or criticizing the series from a sectarian perspective.

However, the voice of these accounts remains faint amid two powerful waves of automated accounts: one Saudi, promoting the series, and the other Shia, adopting a sectarian discourse. Between them lies an online clash that fuels a Sunni-Shia divide.