Interviewing Prime Ministers and spreading hate against Israel: Who are you, "Twitter King" Mario Nawfal?
Born in Lebanon, raised in Australia, and living in Dubai: Mario Nawfal has become one of the most influential figures on X. Elon Musk took an interest in him, and Nawfal knew exactly how to leverage that for growth. Understanding that Israel-related content drives engagement, he often resorts to fake news and conspiracy theories. Traffic is king, and Nawfal employs dozens of staff to tweet around the clock.
Mario Nawfal is much more than a regular tweeter; he is a news network unto himself. Officially a Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur and influencer based in Dubai, he has become one of the most prominent figures on X (formerly Twitter) in recent years, with over 3.8 million followers. His business background includes a kitchenware company called Froothie and a stint as a bachata dance instructor. Later, he founded the IBC Group, an incubator for marketing crypto projects, NFTs, and decentralized currencies.
The turning point in his career came in late 2022, when Elon Musk joined a live broadcast Nawfal hosted on X Spaces regarding the collapse of the FTX exchange. Since then, Nawfal’s account has received frequent engagement from Musk, leading to a surge in followers. Nawfal expanded into political content through the Citizen Journalism Network and talk shows featuring global right-wing figures. He successfully adapted his content to narratives favored by Musk, leveraging this exposure to sell marketing packages worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Israel Obsession
It appears Nawfal has discovered that Israel is a gold mine for traffic. A quick scan of his feed reveals frequent tweets about Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. These posts reach millions of users and translate into significant profit. October 7 was a catalyst that turned Nawfal into a "content monster." While he initially covered the "Black Saturday" attacks and the hostages, his feed is now filled with videos of children in Gaza, reports on settler activity in the West Bank, and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. If "sex sells," today it is clear that hatred of Israel sells traffic. According to Bright Data, nearly 40% of a sample of 1,531 posts by Nawfal between 2023 and 2026 mentioned Israel.
Abnormal Bot Involvement
An investigation by the Israeli cyber intelligence firm Cyabra analyzed over 7,000 accounts interacting with Nawfal and found that 30% were fake. For his "Roundtable Show" account, approximately two-thirds of interactions appeared to be bots—an extreme deviation from the network average of 7–10%. While Nawfal vehemently denies using bots, the investigation uncovered internal IBC correspondence from 2022 in which his managers negotiated strategies to boost engagement through non-organic, artificial tools.
In May 2026, former X product head Nikita Bier publicly confronted Nawfal, labeling him a "chronic content thief" for re-uploading videos from small creators without credit to exploit the platform's revenue-sharing program. Despite such controversies and exposure, Nawfal continues his operations, recognizing that the Israel narrative remains a reliable engine for engagement.
