SpongeBob SquarePants, the star of the hit Nickelodeon show, is at the heart of a political storm playing out online in Egypt, giving rise to suspicions about the motives of Facebook groups that have recreated him and his underwater city as a platform for political satire.
The storm began when the group was created last week, securing close to two million members in just days. The AI-aided recreation of SpongeBob and his city – Bikini Bottom – presented a parallel world where residents engaged in sometimes stinging satire of Egypt's problems.
The group offered members a virtual world that closely resembles a popular game called The Sims in which participants use AI tools to add their own parts to, for example, a city or a farm they build. In the case of the controversial group and its offshoots, users inserted satire and criticism of certain policies.
A teenage girl who claimed she was the group's administrator said in a video clip widely shared online on Tuesday that she and co-creators should not be held responsible for the political content that some members posted in spin-off groups they created.
“I cannot believe I am saying this, but people, we are naive,” she said. “Allow people to have fun!”
One post shows an angry crowd surrounding a desk where two city officials are seated. They are carrying banners that say “rents are high” and “prices are on fire”.
Another criticises traffic jams and the high prices of black-eyed beans popular among Egyptians. There are also posts that underline the harassment of women on the streets and the skyrocketing prices of housing.
The group's content and its spin-offs have quickly dominated the national conversation in Egypt, with their motives debated on television talk shows and social media platforms.
Suspicion of who is behind the group – the “Complaints of the People of Al Hamour Bottom” – quickly fell on the Muslim Brotherhood group, which was removed from power in 2013 amid a popular uprising, according to pro-government talk show hosts and social media accounts.
Expressing ideas
The original Facebook group was this week suspended for two months. It is unclear whether local authorities or Meta, Facebook's owner, decided to close it. The National reached out to Meta on Monday asking whether it was behind the closure but received no immediate response.
The suspension, however, did not stop the proliferation of spin-offs posted by government critics who used residents of SpongeBob's underwater city to deliver scathing criticism of economic policies.
“The trend of al Hamour's Bottom belongs to the (Muslim) Brotherhood,” declared Tamer Abdel Monaim, a veteran talk show host rated among the government's most ardent supporters. “Its objective is to sow confusion.”
Social media accounts believed to be pro-government said the Facebook group and its offshoots were part of a plot to attack the system and by sowing divisions and questioning authorities.
“When the genuine problems of the citizens are presented in a virtual and substitute state, then the whole affair – if it deviates from the boundaries of comedy and into doubts and incitement – becomes a threat to national security in the broadest sense,” wrote one of the accounts.
Others saw the group as a window expressing their ideas. “This vast popularity is not only because of people's love for SpongeBob. It rather reflects the people's wish to air their problems and speak about the pressures they are subjected to in a satirical and indirect manner,” wrote a social media user.
Significantly, the group emerged at a time when authorities are calling on Egyptians to freely air their views, regardless of whether they are at odds with government policies. This month, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi declared his government's commitment to freedom of expression and called for media reforms.
