Why Is the U.S. Military Buying Tinder Ads in Lebanon?

Independent journalist Séamus Malekafzali, an American who lives in Beirut, wanted to make some plans for the weekend. So he opened up Tinder, the location-based dating app. But instead of interested singles, he found an apparent ad from his own government threatening to bomb his city.

“The United States will protect its partners in the face of threats by the Iranian regime and its proxies,” the ad read in Arabic, along with images of warplanes and the logo of CENTCOM, the U.S. military command responsible for the Middle East and Central Asia. “Do not take up arms against the United States or its partners.” 

Just in case the message wasn’t clear enough, the ad continued: “CENTCOM is fully prepared with F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters and supersonic A-10 Thunderbolt fighters already in the region.” Whoever translated the ad seems to have gotten things mixed up. The F-16 is supersonic and the A-10 is not.

Malekafzali, who was surprised by the ads, posted screenshots on social media. “I had been getting ads on Twitter from Israel before specifically about Lebanon but ads on Tinder and other apps are usually businesses,” he tells Reason. “I’ve never ever seen a government, especially a military, place an ad in a dating app.”

CENTCOM’s media team declined to comment. Tinder did not respond to a request for comment.

Israel and Lebanon have a history of conflict, and they have been in a low-grade border war since October 2023, when the Lebanese militia Hezbollah began bombarding the Israeli border in the name of the Palestinian cause.

As of last month, Hezbollah attacks on Israel had killed 23 soldiers and 10 civilians, and Israeli attacks on Lebanon had killed around 366 fighters and 100 civilians. Tens of thousands of people in both countries were forced to flee their homes. So far, the fighting has been contained to border areas, although Israeli jets have frequently buzzed Beirut, the Lebanese capital, and Hezbollah drones have buzzed Haifa, a major Israeli port.

Some Israeli officials have been calling for a full invasion of Lebanon, and there is a growing movement of Israelis who want to conquer and resettle Lebanese territory. Officially, the Biden administration has been opposed to expanding the war. But the administration is also signaling that it will back Israel to the hilt, perhaps even by sending in American forces.

After Israel assassinated a Hezbollah commander in Beirut and a Hamas leader in Tehran last month, the U.S. military moved two aircraft carrier groups and a guided missile submarine into the Middle East. The United States is committed “to take every possible step to defend Israel” from retaliation, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said.

Buying ads on a dating website is a strange way to signal U.S. support. But it wouldn’t be the first time that CENTCOM used taxpayer money to manipulate social media on behalf of another country. In 2017, U.S. military personnel posing as Arab citizens spread messages in support of the Saudi war in Yemen.

How much the Tinder ads cost is unclear. It’s also unclear whether ads on a dating app will have the effect that U.S. military planners are hoping for—or what audience they’re even aimed at. Hezbollah fighters are reportedly banned from using cellphones due to the dangers of location tracking. The likely audience is Lebanese civilians, and there’s not much they can do in the face of an impending war.

“The people are rising up against Hezbollah because they were micro-targeted while looking for stuff to do on a Thursday night,” Malekafzali joked.

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