What Do We Really Own in This Digital World?
For many years, we believed that ownership in the digital space could be measured in numbers:
the number of followers, the volume of engagement, the speed of reach, and posts that collect thousands of likes within minutes.
Accounts grew. Pages expanded.
It felt as though we were holding the world in the palm of our hand, through a small screen.
Yet a simple question remained postponed—one we tend to ask only when a real test arrives:
Do we truly own what we hold… or are we merely temporary guests on platforms owned by others?
In this vast digital world, the rules change without warning.
Algorithms are rewritten without consultation.
Voices are muted or amplified by decisions whose source and logic we neither see nor understand.
Sometimes, all it takes is a change in ownership of a single platform—as has happened, and continues to happen, with TikTok—for policies to shift, reach maps to be redrawn, and the rules of visibility to be rewritten.
What reached hundreds of thousands yesterday may today reach only a narrow circle—not because the content has weakened, but because “the platform decided so.”
Accounts are frozen. Videos are buried. Narratives are re-filtered.
A scene that reminds us that, no matter how large our presence becomes, we are still moving within a space whose keys we do not own.
And when that happens, protests do not help.
History does not intercede.
Good intentions are not taken into account.
This is not a call to demonize social media, nor an invitation to abandon it.
These platforms remain powerful tools, important spaces for visibility, and outlets that—despite everything—have helped us reach people, convey narratives, and break media monopolies at critical moments.
The problem begins when the tool becomes a substitute,
the platform becomes the foundation,
and the window turns into a home.
What is built on land we do not own
remains vulnerable to removal at any moment.
That is why the real question today is not:
How many followers do we have?
But rather: Where does our project stand if the doors suddenly close?
Here, precisely, the value of a website emerges—not as a technical detail, but as the only space we truly own.
A space not governed by volatile algorithms,
where value is not measured by “likes,”
but by depth of content, integrity of message, and the reader’s trust.
A website is memory that cannot be erased,
an archive that does not disappear,
a home we return to no matter how the roads change.
For this reason, supporting any media platform—including Al-Arab in UK—is not achieved solely by following its social media accounts, important as that is.
It becomes deeper and more meaningful when readers choose to engage with it through its website.
When you enter the site, read a piece in full, browse its sections, and spend real time with its content, you are not merely consuming news.
You are contributing to strengthening its digital presence, improving its ranking on search engines, and reinforcing its position as a credible, independent source.
Search engines do not see “trends”; they see continuity.
They do not measure noise; they measure trust.
Perhaps the most striking paradox today is that artificial intelligence tools themselves—now widely relied upon for research and verification—do not treat social media posts as primary references.
Instead, they prioritize credible websites with consistent updates and archived content.
In other words, the website is no longer just a publishing tool;
it has become a public digital reference.
From here, social media remains a bridge—but not the shore.
A channel of access—but not the source.
The true source is the website itself:
the origin that feeds all other platforms with content, vision, and a coherent narrative.
That is why spending more time browsing the site, returning to it regularly, and sharing links to its articles is a form of meaningful support—one that may not show immediate results, but builds long-term impact.
In a world where we know exactly who owns the major platforms,
owning our own website is no longer a digital luxury,
but a media necessity, a guarantee of independence, and an investment in survival.
We may spread through social media…
but we only endure where we own the ground.
And here—only here—does the answer begin.
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