An unidentified person has recently waged a highly effective online campaign against Yemen’s Houthi movement and its supporters, leading to the removal of numerous pages and social media accounts used to criticize Israel. Last week, the Houthi information ministry was forced to issue a detailed statement on the phenomenon, predictably blaming Israel and the United States.
“The Americans, the Israelis and their agents have failed in the media war against the Yemeni people, so they turned to shutting down Yemeni accounts and trying to silence Yemen’s voice on social media,” the statement said. “We will not remain silent or stand idly by in the face of this aggression. We will work with the relevant authorities to take appropriate measures. This attempt will not succeed, and the enemy will not silence us or hide the truth.”
Mustafa al-Mumari on the removal of his YouTube channel
The ministry also claimed the alleged campaign is part of Israeli and American preparations “for the next round of aggression against our people, after they failed to sway public support for Gaza. It is linked to other campaigns aiming to defame the Yemeni people because of its pro-Palestinian stance and to isolate it from regional and international sympathy.”
The immediate trigger for the Houthi statement was controversy surrounding a Facebook page called Wa’i (“Aware” in Arabic), which has more than half a million followers and also appears on other platforms. The page is not new, but in recent weeks it has begun singling out and trolling accounts associated with the Houthis. It routinely posts screenshots of accounts it claims to have helped remove.
Each deleted Facebook account appears with an apple icon stamped with the word “removed.” According to a source in Sanaa, the apple is a joke aimed at the Houthis: when a commander is killed in battle, the phrase “he has gone to eat apples in paradise” is sometimes used. For other platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp, Wa’i uses icons of different fruits. For unknown reasons, it does not post about accounts removed from X.
A report last month by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya claimed the campaign is “Yemeni” and led by the Wa’i page. As of that report, the campaign had succeeded in shutting down about 80 Houthi-linked accounts across multiple platforms within just three weeks.
One of the campaign’s “victims” was the YouTube channel of Houthi-aligned comedian Mustafa al-Mumari, known for videos mocking Israelis and Jews. He rose to prominence in June 2024 with a song titled “Safina Safina,” which praised Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
On Thursday, al-Mumari posted an angry video on X, saying: “The Zionists deleted my official YouTube channel with 3.85 million subscribers.” He added that his backup channels were also removed, declaring: “We are steadfast and continuing, you Zionists. We will open new channels.”
For now, senior Houthi figures still maintain active accounts on X, including Hazam al-Assad, who often posts in Hebrew, and Nasser al-Din Amer. In November, the account of senior official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti was suspended, though the move did not appear linked to the Wa’i campaign.