Amjad Taha, Muslim Brotherhood Maxxing and the Emirati Dysinfluencer Factory
Inside an AI-powered influence network linking Emirati influencers, pseudo-news sites, and the far right
Until late 2024, most people had never heard of Rauda Altenaiji. Then, almost overnight, she, and a small group of similarly styled young Emirati social media personalities, began appearing everywhere: posting slick videos, publishing op-eds, promoting books, and weighing in on global conflicts with aggressive, sardonic conviction.
United by a shared disdain for the Muslim Brotherhood and a seeming love of ChatGPT, they present themselves as independent thinkers with a striking deference to everything UAE - a message they’ve been eager to amplify.
They’ve travelled to key lobbying sites around the world, participating in events by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and met with folk at the Heritage Foundation. They’ve taken trips to Geneva, attended the right-wing Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference in London, spoken at the Pinsker Centre at the University of Cambridge and hosted panels at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
Yet what may look like to some a handful of young influencers expressing strong political views turns out to be something far more organised. Behind the personal brands sits what appears to be a tightly interconnected media ecosystem: newly created or reactivated X accounts, a cluster of English and Arabic pseudo-news sites spreading disinformation, AI-generated articles and a constant churn of content that circulates through the same channels, using the same type of language, the same visuals, and often the same studios. Perhaps most bizarrely, it even involves a series of books that look to have been written by AI.
In their content, the Muslim Brotherhood appears obsessively, as does Sudan, migration, protest, and Islam in Europe. Israel is positioned as a defensive outpost of Western order, UAE as an exemplar state. In short, they are a cluster of people pushing narratives that closely resemble those of the UAE government, but also of Israel and the European right and far right (and also Russian style active measures). A number of them have even gone as far as to promote content by the anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson.
These figures function less as influencers in the conventional sense than as what I call dysinfluencers: actors who repeatedly circulate disinformation or propaganda, and whose visibility appears manufactured through strategic amplification rather than earned through expertise or accountability.
Who exactly is coordinating elements of this group or paying for some of their trips is not explicitly clear, although as this post details, there are a number of links to a familiar figure in the disinformation space: Amjad Taha, who, along with his company, Crestnux Media, have quietly advertised and promoted the people and several of the platforms and individuals involved (See ‘Who is Amjad Taha? A Deep Dive’, for more info on Taha) .
This long read documents what appears to be a multi-dimensional, at times, co-ordinated narrative-laundering operation.
This post is quite long, and proceeds in four parts. First, it maps the cluster of Emirati-based influencers that emerged or reactivated their accounts in late 2024. Second, it examines the pseudo-news outlets that provide these accounts with legitimacy and amplification, as well as other tactics and techniques. Third, it traces the connective role played by Amjad Taha and his company, Crestnux Media, in promoting and sustaining this ecosystem. Finally, it explores the intersection with the Polish right wing media system Visegrad24.
The ‘Gang’
Firstly, there are around ten of these disinfluencers, henceforth known as ‘the gang’. I say ‘around’ ten because there are varying connections between them, and their behaviours overlap in different ways. Those analysed here represent some of the most vocal, and the most networked with one another in terms of co-presence, collaboration, and techniques, tactics and procedures (TTPs). This list is not comprehensive (there are more) but it reflects a core group bound by varying degrees by what looks like co-ordinated or highly aligned activity across social media, publications, interactions, narratives and style. The term gang does not assume that all individuals involved are paid, directed, or coordinated in a formal sense. Rather, it documents varying degrees of connection, co-presence, and interaction within a shared media ecosystem, where alignment is produced through repeated engagement, amplification, and narrative convergence.
Looking only at X, these accounts display a highly concentrated pattern of creation. Seven of their X accounts were created in December 2024 or January 2025, and these include Rauda Altenaiji (FormulaRauda), Mariam Al Mazroueie (mariam_almaz11), Obaid Al Zaabi (Obaidsview), Abdulqader Almenhali (AQ_Almenhali), Meera Zayed (MeeraZayed), Majed Al Saedi (971AlSaadi), and potentially Khamis Al Hosani (KhamisMalhosani) and Sarah Al Hosani . Associated Instagram accounts, where identifiable, were also created in late 2024 or show no meaningful activity pre-October 2024 activity.
In addition, several older X accounts show abrupt reactivation or behavioural shifts during the same period. Aaesha Ahmed (@Aaeshahmed), originally active on X in 2014, reappears in January 2025 with earlier tweets no longer visible and a marked tonal shift, despite an Instagram presence dating to 2012. Mozah Al Kindi (@MozahAlkindi86) and Ahmed Sharif Al Ameri (@ahhmedshh), while chronologically older, intersect with the same network via interviews, features, and shared content, linking them functionally to the December–January cluster.
For their frequent video posts, many of them even seem to have been recorded in the same studio. In the below collage, for example you can see the same set dressing, such as a black and silver globe and identical background props. The ‘to-camera’ explainer style is also similar. In terms of filming location, it appears to be connected to an initiative called OnePodcastAE, set up around the same time as the network, and one where members of the gang are featured heavily.
Eight of them have also all published books within a three month window in 2025, all with same publisher, and all seemingly with the help of an LLM agent (more on that later).
The gang also hangs out together, and attend many of the same events. In 2025, members of this influencer cluster repeatedly appeared at the same policy, advocacy, and political events across North America and Europe.
In February 2025, Obaid Al Zaabi, Aesha Ahmed and Amjad Taha attended the right-wing ARC Conference in London. The same trio appeared again that month at the University of Cambridge’s Pinsker Centre. During the London trip, at the same time as the ARC conference, there is a photo of Amjad Taha, Aesha and Obaid posing with Camila Tominey of GB News. (This was, presumably, immediately before the interview with Amjad Taha that resulted in GB news being sued).
In March 2025, the overlap intensified across multiple US venues: Obaid, Amjad, Abdulqader, and Rauda appeared together at a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) event in New York. That same month Obaid, Amjad, and Abdulqader spoke at UC San Diego and reappeared together at Georgetown University in Washington DC, along with Rauda . Rauda’s March itinerary also included a separate appearance at the Heritage Foundation with Obaid. By November 2025, the network’s appearances extend to Geneva, where Rauda was present alongside and Majed Al Saedi.
Interestingly, Ed Husain appears with the gang at many events, including Pinsker, CFR, UC San Diego, and Georgetown. This tracks. After all, Ed Hussain co-founded the counter-extremism think tank Quilliam Foundation, which initially positioned itself as a liberal reformist voice on political Islam. In recent years, Husain’s commentary and institutional affiliations have increasingly aligned with more conservative and right-leaning security frameworks.
One of the most interesting cameos with the gang though is Johnnie Moore, who appears with Amjad Taha and others at Georgetown University. Moore was the head of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and his PR company JDA Worldwide was previously found by myself and Sohan Dsouza to be involved in a worldwide multimillion dollar propaganda campaign promoting Islamophobia and Xenophobia.
The frequency of co-presence, the recurrence of the same institutional venues, and the overlap between offline appearances and online amplification together point to a sustained, networked pattern of participation rather than isolated or coincidental engagement - although it’s never explicitly said why this particular group so often appear together. (It is also not clear who is paying for these trips when they occur).
The Gang’s Content: Muslim Brotherhood Maxxing
In addition to these quite telling network overlaps, almost all members of the gang are uniformly obsessed with the Muslim Brotherhood. I downloaded all tweets from ten members of the gang. ‘Muslim’ was the third most common word ‘brotherhood’ the sixth (Sudan the fifth). Muslim brotherhood was by far the most common collocate (collocate = habitually juxtaposed word).
Indeed, Political Islam, specifically the dangers of the Muslim Brotherhood, functions as the master theme promoted by the gang. It is through this lens that Sudan, Gaza, Western activism, media criticism, European migration, the environment and NGO politics are all interpreted.
Their recent videos on the tragic Sydney attacks demonstrate this obsession, with at least five of them posting videos, and three of them somehow managing to mention the Muslim Brotherhood in their bizarre, apparently scripted videos. This is despite the Muslim Brotherhood having nothing to do with the attacks. (Middle East Eye did a good compilation of the gang’s videos on this issue)
To some extent, the gang seem to speak on their areas of expertise, but the strange shoehorning in of anti-Islamist talking points are never far away. Aesha Ahmed, for example, is an expert on the environment. However, in this video filmed at the University of Cambridge hosted by the Pinsker Centre, Aesha explains environmental destruction through the lens of the Muslim Brotherhood! In Georgetown, Abdulqader repeats Israeli talking points about Hamas stealing aid. In London, Amjad Taha got GB News sued for falsely saying Islamic Relief Worldwide funds Islamist terrorism.
There are numerous other examples of the overlap in the gang’s narrative that seem far too specific to be coincidental. For example, there is a strange shared focus on Greta Thunberg, and criticism of her activism - especially on Palestine - all of which resemble scripted talking points.
Many of the gang also do an interesting line in fanning the flames of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe, which is presumably an everyday concern for your average Emirati citizen (not). From ‘London not being safe’, to violent gangs of roving North African migrants in Spain - the talking points could be coming out of the mouth of any European right wing populist politician.
The style of each influencer varies, with some attempting to sound more technocratic and intellectual. Rauda in particular seems to have drawn the most hate, perhaps because her and Mariam have fashioned themselves as the Emirati equivalents of White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt, adopting a strange mean girl energy that combines aloofness, sardonic remarks, and ridicule. This has prompted some not-so-nice memes.
Pseudo news sites and narrative laundering
But this is where things start to get weirder. In addition to their international travel, social media activity, podcasting, and to-camera videos, many of the gang have written for, interacted with or amplified a bunch of unusual news sites. These are called The Washington Eye, Daily Euro Times, Brieflex, Africalix, and InfoFlix.
You may never have heard of these, in part because they are new, but also because they are pseudo-news sites.
Pseudo-news sites describe news-like websites that present themselves as journalism without operating as a genuine news organisation. They may have slick and ostensibly credible branding, but these sites typically have minimal staff or opaque editorial processes, rely heavily on automated or scraped content, and often use unverifiable, inconsistent, or generic bylines. Their primary function is not to attract sustained readership, but to host and legitimise narratives by giving them the appearance of having been “reported.”
The registration data is telling. The websites for InfoFlix, Brieflex, The Washington Eye, and the Daily Euro Times were all registered on 1 November 2024. The website for Africa Lix was registered 17 October 2024.
All of these outlets’ X accounts (with the exception of infoflix), were created in December 2024. However, Infoflix has only been tweeting since November 2023, as it is a scrubbed and repurposed account. In fact, the Infoflix X account is a repurposed X account that was used in an anti-Qatar information operation during the 2017-20 blockade. As you can see from the below image, the account belonged to someone impersonating a Qatari lawyer called Hind Al Dossary, although as many users at the time pointed out, it was fake (Note it was common in the blockade for KUBE-aligned account to use accounts imitating Qataris). Important reminder: legitimate outlets don’t buy and repurpose old social media accounts unless they are trying to shortcut klout.
All X accounts have gold checkmarks, indicating a spend of between 200-1000 USD per month. This suggests a premium is placed on social media reach. X states all the accounts are based in ‘West Asia’. All of these outlets, in addition to Crestnux Media (more on this soon), were also sponsors for an event in Bahrain on AI called Juthoor.
More importantly, in addition to being created at the same time, they all operate as low-quality content mills, publishing predominantly AI-generated/assisted articles paired with AI-generated images. They appear designed to simulate legitimate news outlets in anticipation of periodic propaganda or disinformation use (discussed later). Most have similar glitches. For example, except for DET, WE and Brieflex, social media icons for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram do not lead to the socials, and just revert to the website. So in short, the gang all emerged on the scene at the same time as this group of pseudo news outlets.
A Classic Case of Disinformation and Narrative Laundering: The Washington Eye
So what is the purpose of these pseudo-news sites?
The Washington Eye and the Daily Euro Times appear marginally more sophisticated. Washington Eye positions itself as an ‘independent’, US-facing, MENA-focused analytical outlet, Daily Euro Times the same, except Europe-facing. Daily Euro Times is similar to the Washington Eye. They have/had editors, and intermittently publish original material by identifiable and reputable contributors. They have, at times, produced podcasts and original video. However, most of their content is produced by a string of content writers (some working remotely), rather than journalists per se.
Consistent with the shoddy nature of such pseudo news sites, the Washington Eye’s ‘authors’ page has been down for some time - although it is not clear why. The Washington Eye was briefly edited by Dean Mikkelsen, while the Daily Euro Times was edited for approximately one year by Gus Anderson (who according to LinkedIn has now moved on). So they obviously have a budget to pay editors, writers, yellow ticks, which begs the question - -where does the money come from?
Importantly, Rauda Altenaiji, Meera and Ahmed have all written for the Washington Eye on topics that include, you guessed it, Islamism and the Muslim Brotherhood. Rauda has also, interestingly, written a piece on the I2U2 alliance.
It is the Washington Eye that provides an interesting example of narrative laundering that underpins its function as a pseudo-news site. In May 2025, the Washington Eye’s published an ‘exclusive’ story that claimed that the Libyan PM transferred $400 million to Turkey. Naturally the story implicates the Muslim Brotherhood. The story in question was written by ‘Charlotte Whitmore’ & ‘Youssef al-Fitouri’ who seem to be entirely fabricated, and do not appear on the Washington Eye’s author list. The story was denied by other Libyan media, and removed from the Washington Eye’s website - presumably by the editor in chief - although it remained one of their most shared stories on X - where it was not deleted.
Again, this suggests there is a different editorial oversight for the social media versus the website. It is possible the scandal caused by this prompted the Washington Eye to remove the page showing the site’s authors.
The Libya story is instructive because it shows how outlets like the Washington Eye function within this ecosystem. Rather than acting as conventional news organisations, they operate as repositories for claims that are difficult to place elsewhere. Once published, even briefly, those claims acquire a URL, a headline, and the appearance of having been “reported.” They can then be circulated repeatedly on social media by aligned accounts, cited as evidence, and referenced long after the original article has been removed or discredited. In this sense, the value of the site lies less in readership than in its role as infrastructure: a low-cost content mill that absorbs, hosts, and legitimises unverified or strategically useful narratives, which are then amplified elsewhere with minimal editorial friction. In short, narrative laundering.
So the question remains, who is authoring these disinformation drops, and who is controlling the social media? Is there a firewall between editorial oversight of the website, and the social media? It would seem that way.
Daily Euro Times
As for Daily Euro Times, its focus appears to be on Somaliland, with an occasional article on the Muslim Brotherhood. Ahmed Sharif Al Ameri, for example, wrote an article about the Muslim Brotherhood’s expansion into Ireland (yes, that’s Ireland'). However, DET seems to indicate further evidence of a disjointed relationship between the website and its social media. There have been some articles posted on topics such as Sudan that don’t necessarily seem to be what you’d expect from an ecosystem propagating UAE talking points. Again, this points to the site editors having some degree of autonomy with the editorial.
However, when you look at the socials, in particular X, you will see that the only content that gets much engagement is about Somaliland. In fact, of the top 100 most engaged tweets, around 75% are about the horn of Africa. The thrust seems to reflect a strategic narrative-building for the international recognition of Somaliland as a Western-aligned security partner in the Horn of Africa. Basically, what UAE and Israel hasbara are advocating.
What does seem clear for both DET and WE is that the websites are more window dressing to legitimise the brand, while the social media activity is where the main importance is placed (after all, we live in an age where more and more people consume news via social media). Important, or on message content, can therefore be selectively amplified on social media.
Connection to Amjad Taha’s Company
This brings us back to Amjad Taha (Amjad Fazeli). I have written extensively about Taha, but it’s worth reminding readers that he is emblematic of a new darling of some western media outlets, the Arab or Muslim-presenting pundit warning about bad Arabs and Muslims. As well as being a pundit, Amjad is also the CEO of a company called Crestnux Media LLC.
Despite the name, it’s not some sort of new dental hygiene product.
According to an archived version of their website.
“Crestnux embodies a philosophy of excellence, derived from the Latin “Cresta” (summit) and “Nux” (essence), representing our focus on delivering peak performance through strategic essentials. We believe that successful advertising is the result of harmonizing creativity with well-crafted strategy, elevating brands to their highest potential. Our services include digital advertisements, expert consulting...Our network advertising expertise guarantees your campaigns reach the right audience with maximum effectiveness....”
But it is not always clear what Crestnux actually does. In September 2025, Crestnux sent a delegation to Rwanda, where they visited the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) (not clear why). There are numerous social postings on Instagram and Facebook of the trip by Rwandan Organization, some with the caption
‘Yesterday, we hosted the Crestnux delegation on campus. This UAE-based organization unites young professionals from diverse fields, including agriculture, to foster collaboration and innovation. Led by its Founder and CEO, the Crestnux team explored the campus and gained insights into the institution’s vision to lead the agricultural transformation.”
But when you click on any of the links you get redirected to a different post or it’s not available. This suggests the posts were deleted, although it is not clear why. There is some evidence that members of the gang went. Mariam Al Mazrouie posted a video talking about her time in Rwanda.
During this trip, Amjad Taha gave an interview to Kigali Today in September 2025. The video description reads;
“Amjad Taha was recently in Rwanda with a Group of Young UAE Opinion Leaders from Crestnux, an Abu Dhabi-based group of like-minded young professionals from diverse fields such as politics and international relations, artificial intelligence, medicine, banking, gender advocacy, media, sports, and agriculture. The 14-member delegation was in Kigali for a week-long visit (from 3–11 September 2025) to learn about the country’s reconstruction journey and explore opportunities for partnerships to further strengthen Rwanda–UAE relations.The group has previously undertaken similar visits to the United States and Europe.”
In the rambling interview, Amjad Taha of course mentions the Muslim Brotherhood, and describes how ‘everyone’ calls them the ‘Hamas of Africa’. But Amjad and friends are the only ones who seem to use the term with any frequency. In fact, Amjad is the one trying to make it happen. This Meltwater analysis literally shows him being the first to try and make ‘Hamas of Africa’ a thing on May 1st.
When you search X for ‘Hamas of Africa’, almost all the top content comes from the gang. This suggests Taha is displaying narrative leadership for the group, which seems to fit with the fact he often seems to be the headline act at a lot of the events the gang attends.
This relationship is reciprocal. Analysis of all the tweets from the circle of influencers reveals that Amjad Taha has the highest level of ‘relevance’ of all the accounts whose data was scraped. This indicates that Taha is seen as an important node for all the influencers, who place a premium on his content. In other words, the hierarchy suggests the gang also exists to boost and promote Amjad Taha.
Besides their international jaunts and mutual social media amplification, some members of the gang have also hung out together in the UAE. In this book launch event hosted by Amjad Taha’s Crestnux, you can see members of the gang, including Aesha, AbulQader, and Meera, all attending. There was also another event between Crestnux and the UAE’s New Expert Program, where they spoke with Foreign Affairs expert Maitha Alkaabi. Here you can see Abdulqader, Amjad, and Mozah. Many of the group also met with Ahmed Fouad Al Khatib (a writer whose pieces in the Atlantic have sourced Amjad Taha’s disinformation), although it is not clear if this was a Crestnux event.
Amjad’s cross-promotion of the gang on X is also strong. Firstly, if you analyse all of Amjad’s tweets from 2025 (which I did), you can see the accounts he most interacted with. Chief among these is the ‘gang’. (N.b. Taha seems to promote Rauda the most).
A Financial Connection
Perhaps one of the most telling and interesting connections between Taha and a number of members of the Gang is the fact that his company, Crestnux, ran ads for the Daily Euro Times and the Washington Eye in February and March 2025.
These can be found on Google’s Ad library.
This begs the question, why is a company run by a guy with a history of seeding false narratives advertising pseudo news sites, at least one of which has engaged in the narrative laundering of disinformation on Libya?
Yet Crestnux is very opaque. Despite a few events, trips, and sponsoring a conference in Bahrain, there is little information about what they do. (At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if they did make dental products). It is also never clear if Amjad’s appearances abroad or on TV are connected to his Crestnux job, or why some of the evidence of their activities appears to have been deleted. He is rarely introduced with this title, and the fact that the website, which was originally registered in October 2024 - updated in October 2025, is now defunct, suggests it is trying to keep a low profile. There is a public record of a Crestnux employee who started working there in November 2024, but he recently left according to LinkedIn.
Other Pseudo-News Sites: New York Insight and Euro Post Agency
The weirdness does not end there, nor do the seemingly related pseudo news sites, or their connections to Taha. In April 2025, Rauda El Tenaiji (and Adam Grien) wrote an article titled ‘Genocidaires with an Islamist Complex and a Bad Map’ which was published on the website ‘New York Insight’ (spoiler alert, you will gain zero insights by reading their content). Aside from occasional op-ed style contributions, including a piece authored by Rauda Altenaiji, content on New York Insight is published without bylines or identifiable editorial oversight. There is one contact email, info@newyorki.net and a generic address in Manhattan. Even the ‘contact’ us still contains html code.
Unsurprisingly, Rauda’s article is heavily critical of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their connection with the Muslim Brotherhood. It shows clear signs of having being written with AI. Interestingly, it lists a co-author named “Adam Grien.” The only instance of this name I could find was in a press release from April 2025. It mentions an Adam Grien who is reportedly an employee of the African Development Association It is not clear whether this refers to the same person, or if Adam Grien even exists (he is not on the site’s authors’ page because there isn’t one).
New York Insight has an unusually high number of articles on Sudan for a website with rather limited coverage and one that brands itself as relevant to ‘New York’. The articles in question all focus on criticising the SAF, its links with the Muslim Brotherhood, or the harmful roles of China, Iran and Russia in Sudan.
There are other suspiciously shoddy elements to New York Insight. None of the social icons actually linked to the channel’s social media outlets. Its X (Twitter) account is somewhat sketchy and inauthentic. It was created in November 2023, and was only following one account at that time, called ‘Inside Africa’. Inside Africa was then suspended. New York Insight then updated its brand, and added a slogan “Louder than Times Square”.
An examination of the top 100 performing posts on the New York Insight’s X account shows the account’s highest-engagement posts also advance a right-wing political alignment. The most engaged content overwhelmingly advances a pro-Israel, security-maximalist framing of regional conflict, particularly in relation to Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and their perceived supporters. Israel is consistently portrayed as acting defensively and legitimately, while opposing actors are described in moralised and absolutist terms. A related set of posts targets pro-Palestinian activists, migrants, Muslims, and left-wing protesters, frequently portraying them as violent, extremist, or supportive of terrorism. Migration is framed through crime, civil disorder, and moral panic narratives, aligning closely with established right-wing culture-war messaging. New York Insight also runs shorts on its YouTube Channel.
With all this in mind, and with all but zero people except Rauda AlTenaiji and Grien publishing in the New York Insight, one has to wonder how “they” ever heard of it...
Europost Agency
So now we are really getting into the upside down.
Rauda’s op-ed in New York Insight is not the end of the story. When Rauda posted her article on New York Insight, it was actually not the first time I had heard of it. By chance, last year I was examining another pseudo news site called EuroPost Agency when I came across New York Insight.
But first, I need to explain a bit about the EuroPost.
Europost’s website rips off the visual branding of EuroNews. Much of the site’s content was copied directly from Euronews, including text and branding, without attribution or evidence of legitimate syndication.
In August 2023, EuroPost’s website published an article alleging links between the SAF and Boko Haram, an entirely unsubstantiated piece of news. The article circulated primarily through pro-RSF social media accounts and attracted immediate concern from researchers and activists, who found no substantiation of these claims. The Boko Haram article claimed to be written by an in-house ‘Washington correspondent’. When the text was traced further, it also appeared on a Medium blog authored by an individual using the name “Carol,” whose only other writing concerned Sudan and alleged Egyptian military involvement via drone support. EuroPost bigs up its credentials. In one post, for example, it claimed that White House sources were communicating with EuroPostAgency.
Closer inspection of EuroPost revealed more evidence of it being an influence operation. The domain had been registered only weeks earlier, in June 2023, yet its X account claimed an origin date more than a decade earlier, and had passed through numerous identities, including belonging to someone who posted in Russian.
Europost Agency also published a small number of original articles focused almost exclusively on Sudan. These pieces, like those on New York Insight, were consistently hostile to the Sudanese Armed Forces and, in some cases, to Egypt.
Europost also prompted an outcry when it was pushing explicitly pro-Israel disinformation. It claimed with no evidence that Israeli hostage Noa Argamani was held captive in the home of Al Jazeera journalist Abdallah Aljamal. This prompted OSINT analyst Tal Hagin to inquire as how they knew this.
Like the other sites, EuroPost looks like a narrative laundering operation. Low quality, opaque, mostly regurgitated but accurate news, with occasional but amplified pointed ideological posts or disinformation (The ol’ 80:20 formula). It is perhaps no surprise then that Taha has frequently shared posts from EuroPost. The X account for EuroNews started posting towards the end of October 2023, and Taha was interacting with it as early as November 2023.
The Europost Agency and New York Insight Nexus.
But what’s the connection between EuroPost and New York Insight?
In a strange but serendipitous moment, when looking into EuroPost Agency’s Youtube channel, I noticed something strange. A bunch of the shorts had watermarks that did not look like the Europost logo. They were the logo from New York Insight! At the time I had not heard of New York Insight, so I made some notes about it and moved on. It was only when Rauda posted her op-ed that I became fascinated that she had happened to publish on a strange site I had identified previously.
What this means is that there is a clear infrastructural connection between New York Insight and the EuroPost. Both sites had the same MO. Western-branded media facades, minimal or opaque editorial infrastructure, recycled or repurposed social media accounts, and a narrow set of geopolitical narratives deployed repeatedly through amplification and occasional outright fabrication.
So it is curious then, that Rauda, who has written for the Washington Eye, has also written for the opaque New York Insight, which is also connected to the equally sketchy Euro Post Agency. New York Insight and EuroPost both show strong anti-SAF ‘editorial’ lines. Both resemble the other pseudonews sites like WE, DET etc. Their X accounts both have the Gold Verified Stamp. The fact New York Insight had a revamp around the same time as the rest of the gang emerged is also curious. The fact Amjad Taha shares posts from EuroPost and New York Insight is yet another interesting pattern. Naturally it begs the question, who is running those sites?
The Right Wing Media Ecosystem
The narratives promoted by the Taha and the gang echo those promoted by the European Far Right. It is worth noting that these anti-Islamist and anti-immigrant narratives are also a feature of Israel’s information operations. It is perhaps no surprise then that another dimension to this ecosystem is that the gang are promoted by Visegrad24’s Middle East' operation. For context, Visegrad24 is a Polish right-wing social media ‘news’ outlet that specialises in generating moral panic about immigration while often posting disinformation about Muslims. In one in depth analysis, Visegrad24 is described as ‘Polish misinformation with a Hungarian recipe’.
In May of 2025, Visegrad24 set up their Middle East website with the imaginatively named “Middle East 24” - the branding of which looks like it’s ripping off Middle East Eye. ME24 were set up by Dan Feferman – Israeli-American strategist and Middle East expert, Stefan Tompson – Polish-British founder of Visegrad24, Abdulaziz AlKhamis – Saudi journalist and commentator and Hayvi Bouzo – Syrian-American TV host. (Interestingly, the about section has removed all their names). Middle East 24 have already generated controversy with their suspicious promotion of stories sourced from a fake American congressman about Somaliland. (I wrote about that here).
Visegrad24’s founder Stefan Tompson interviewed Amjad Taha in July 2025. Once again, Taha gave well-worn usual spiel about Islamism and European immigration. Curiously, the gang features heavily on Middle East 24’s sites, sometimes producing exclusive ‘co-branded’ content. That a European right-wing, Islamophobic news outlet is now platforming a number of these Emirati disinfluencers is a telling indicator of emerging global alliances.
Another interesting dimension of this is that Visegrad24 hosted and interviewed Tommy Robinson on their channel in 2024, and seemed to collaborate on a specifically pointed video criticising Qatar (more on that here). Some members of the gang have recently promoted Tommy Robinson’s views on Sudan, who has taken a recent and sudden interest in matters of concern to the UAE, including the potential independence of South Yemen. As if this was not weird enough, Tommy Robinson is currently (December 2025) on a paid-for trip in Dubai - will be curious to see who he meets (he did not say who was paying).
The Book Factory and AI-powered intellectuals
Perhaps the most unhinged and post-truth aspect of all of this though is that at least eight of the gang have published books. I hesitate to use the word ‘written’ because they all show signs of being written by AI. But yes, Aesha, Mozah, Ahmed, Rauda, Majid, Mariam, Abdulqader and Obaid have all written books. And yes, you probably guessed it at this point, they have a lot in common. They were all published within a similar time frame, July - September 2025. They are all published with the same publisher, AuthorHouse. It is also worth noting that AuthorHouse was the same publisher where Amjad Taha published his book ‘The Deception of the Arab Spring’.
Now, you should never pay for propaganda, but to maintain a set of hard copies and perhaps an exhibit for my future disinformation museum, I ordered all the hard copies of these books so you don’t have to. (Note, you can also read most of them with a subscription to sites like Everand).
Some of the books contain the same themes as the disinfluencers propagate. Andalusian by Rauda Al Tenaiji (which she describes as an ‘intellectual detonation’), includes various tirades against NGOs like Islamic Relief Worldwide, and Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR). It’s the most clearly anti-Islamist text, emphasising how Europe’s ‘tolerance’ will be its undoing - themes consistently propagated by many of the gang. Indeed, Andalusion feels like a projection of Taha’s rhetoric.
The Emirati Model by Obaid is more focused on extolling the virtues of the UAE, but has some bizarre sections on the problems of European immigration (and how good the Kafala system is). Indeed, they read like a xenophobic right-wing screed.
But while most of the books portend to be intellectual assessments on various topics, ranging from the environment to heritage, to the Muslim Brotherhood and drug trade, none of them have any bibliographies, and all of them look like they were hastily written by an LLM agent like ChatGPT. They are rife with em dashes, formulaic structuring, hyperbole, comparative contrastive constructions (this is not just x, this is y). Obaid’s book even has loads of text written in bold, as some LLMs tend to do.
While some of the books seem to function as explicit propaganda, perhaps influencing LLMs in the future, they do have an impact in terms of credibility laundering. If you, for example, ask Grok who ‘Rauda Al Tenaiji’ is, it even mentions her book published on ‘Barnes and Noble’. This might give the uninitiated the impression that Rauda is a credible author.
The books seem to be a package deal too. Here is Rauda showing off her book to delegates at the Abraham Accords Conference organized by the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy... As you can see, all of the Gang’s books are on display together!
And if things weren’t bad enough, Rauda is working on her next book.
Conclusion: Amjad and the AI-Powered Intellectuals
Between October and December 2024, a media and narrative infrastructure came online. Pseudo-news sites, The Washington Eye, Daily Euro Times, Brieflex, AfricaLix, InfoFlix, were registered within weeks of each other. X accounts for influencers like Rauda Altenaiji, Mariam Al Mazroueie, Obaid Al Zaabi, and Abdulqader Almenhali were created in December 2024. By early 2025, they were appearing together at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Heritage Foundation, Georgetown University, and the ARC Conference in London - often accompanied by Amjad Taha. In February March, Amjad Taha’s company, Crestnux Media, was running paid advertisements for The Washington Eye and Daily Euro Times on Google’s ad network.
The pattern is consistent: simultaneous creation, converging appearances, shared studios, identical narrative fixations. The Muslim Brotherhood appears relentlessly—as the explanation for environmental destruction, the Sudanese war European migration, Gaza, and the Sydney terrorist attacks. Hamas is reframed as the “Hamas of Africa.” Migration becomes a security threat. Israel becomes a defensive outpost of Western order. The talking points circulate through the pseudo-news sites, get amplified by the influencer accounts, and even appear in books published through AuthorHouse that read like they were generated by ChatGPT.
A key connective figure is Amjad Taha, a figure with an established history in dysinfluence operations. His company buys ads for pseudo-news sites. He amplifies suspicious pseudo news sites. He appears alongside the gang at international events. His tweets show the highest engagement among the network. He promotes their content, they amplify his. The hierarchy of influence metrics suggests a reciprocal relationship: the network exists to promote Taha, and Taha’s infrastructure exists to legitimize the network. What is unclear is the extent to which Crestnux is involved.
What makes this important is the systematic nature of it. The infrastructure operates through a facade of independence, separate accounts, different outlets, individual bylines. But the creation dates align. The domain registrations cluster. The Google ads connect Crestnux to some of the pseudo-news sites. Many of the influencers appear together, again and again, at the same venues. The InfoFlix and Europost X accounts turns out to be recycled tools from the 2017 Qatar blockade. The NewYork Insight watermark appears on EuroPost Agency videos, sites which are in turn promoted by Taha and members of the Gang.
The tactics, techniques, and procedures, simultaneous account creation, narrative convergence, cross-platform amplification, pseudo-news scaffolding, point to organized activity. At its center sits a known disinformation actor actively promoting websites and accounts with no editorial transparency, fabricated bylines, and what looks like AI-generated content, while his company pays to amplify their reach.
What remains unresolved are the practical mechanics of this ecosystem. Who is paying for the repeated international travel, event access, studio production, and appearances of this influencer cluster? Who finances the ongoing costs of domain registrations, premium platform verification, advertising spend, and large-scale content production across multiple pseudo-news outlets? How are editorial decisions made between websites and their social media accounts, and is there a deliberate separation between website oversight and social amplification? What role, if any, does Crestnux Media play, does it coordinate distribution, pay influencers, provide technical infrastructure, or manage advertising and amplification?
On a final note, something that strikes me about this group is the age. Many of those involved are young, relatively new to public political commentary, and operating in media environments where visibility, validation, and access are rewarded far more than accuracy or independence. Whether it is ambition, naivety, opportunism, or ideological conviction, it is unclear what motivates different elements of the gang, or whether any have any qualms about the nature of what they are doing. Perhaps time will tell.
I had no idea how far my jaw could actually drop until now.
Many thanks. In the The Right Wing Media Ecosystem section, one can notice also their striking engagement with Elon Musk’s tweets in that regard.