Since the formation of Nawaf Salam’s government in February 2025, coordinated defamatory campaigns have targeted independent media outlets, economists, local advocacy groups, and even political figures who have been calling for financial and political reform in Lebanon.
The country’s banking lobby, along with the media outlets it funds, has intensified its media campaign as the new government places banking and financial reform among its top priorities. These reforms include resuming negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout deal, drafting of a financial recovery plan, restructuring banks, passing a law that lifts banking secrecy, and filling key public posts, most notably appointing a new Central Bank governor. As conspiracy theories were being spewed to discredit reformists and distract the public, the banking lobby has mobilized to block financial and economic reforms unfavorable to its interests. It is in this vein that the lobby’s candidate, Karim Souaid, was appointed on March 27 to lead the Central Bank without much public scrutiny of his agenda.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been facing a severe economic crisis. Questionable banking practices and deep economic mismanagement have been blamed for the collapse, which saw the state defaulting on its debt since 2020, banks stopping paying out deposits since October 2019, and the local currency losing more than 98 percent of its value.
A coordinated attack
The coordinated media campaign was consistent in its messaging across numerous online media platforms and television programs, funded by Lebanese businessman and banker Antoun Sehnaoui, a major shareholder and chairman of Société Générale de Banque au Liban. Sehnaoui is one of the most influential Lebanese bankers and controls various media outlets that reflect his views and defends his interests. He also wields significant influence within a wide range of political parties, MPs, and decision-makers, thanks to his active support and financing of various electoral campaigns and political activities.
The first targets of this orchestrated campaign were independent media platforms Megaphone and Daraj, whose reporting since the beginning of the financial crisis contributed to exposing the violations committed by political and banking elites at the expense of depositors and public funds. The campaign targeted the two platforms with conspiratorial accusations, including claims that they are working on behalf of American businessman George Soros to undermine the Lebanese economy. It expanded to include the advocacy group Kulluna Irada, a collective of economists and businesspeople who, in recent years, have produced research papers and public policy proposals advocating specific reforms to address the financial collapse.
The campaign included special reports that were aired on local TV station MTV, in addition to videos shared by Sehnaoui’s electronic media outlets, including Huna Lubnan, This is Beirut, and Ici Beyrouth. The smear campaign also included organized attacks, some amplified by fake accounts on social media and with sponsored posts.
The campaign then quickly escalated, when these reports and media attacks led to legal cases being filed against both Megaphone and Daraj, as well as Kulluna Irada, for the “conspiracy” they have allegedly orchestrated. The accusations included causing a drop in the value of government bonds, inciting citizens to withdraw their money from banks, and seeking to undermine the local currency. The Public Prosecutor transferred the case to the Beirut Court of Appeal Prosecutor.
The harm and pressure caused by the current campaign should not be underestimated, especially given some suspicions surrounding political influence on local courts. Past incidents have shown the risks involved: journalist Mounir Younes, for instance, was detained for several hours at the Palace of Justice last year over his criticism of the financial policies enacted by the Mikati government in posts on his personal Twitter account. At the time, the court attempted to force Younes to sign a pledge not to “mock” politicians, a stark violation of freedom of expression.
The appointment of the Central Bank governor
The apparent first objective of the ongoing campaign was to secure Souaid’s appointment as Central Bank governor through intimidating opposing voices while promoting his candidacy.
Souaid, an asset manager with deep ties to Lebanon’s political and financial establishments, was portrayed as the figure capable of confronting the very conspiracy allegedly orchestrated by Daraj, Megaphone, and Kulluna Irada. Souaid’s nomination, and his eventual appointment, were met with objections from a wide range of reform advocates, such as the Depositors Union (a collective representing the rights of Lebanese depositors) and other public policy organizations. Naturally, some of these voices were said to be part of the same external conspiracy targeting Lebanon’s economy, including some cabinet members and MPs who opposed Souaid’s appointment.
The reasons why the banking lobby fiercely backed Souaid are relatively clear. He had previously presented a plan to address the crisis by converting the deposits that banks are unable to pay into debts owed by the Lebanese state. The responsibility to repay these deposits would therefore be transferred from the banks to the government. The plan then suggests implementing a “haircut,” or a write off, of up to 90 percent of the government’s debts, which means that the depositors’ rights would just disappear. This way, banks would be able to rid themselves of their crisis at the expense of depositors and taxpayers.
The smear campaign was successful in diverting attention away from this problematic plan, which ended up receiving minimal scrutiny in the media. Souaid’s appointment came despite objections by Prime Minister Salam himself and a group of ministers. He managed to garner enough votes in the Council of Ministers, and benefited from the support of the President’s top economic advisor Varouj Nerguizian who served alongside Souaid on the Board of Directors of Emirates Lebanon Bank. This gave Souaid a big advantage over other candidates, given the President’s influence over the Council of Ministers’ decisions.
Restructuring and secrecy
The goals of the coordinated campaign seem to extend beyond the aim of securing this vote. Indeed, the government has already started discussing banking reform, including restructuring banks—which may include mergers, bankruptcy, or injecting fresh capital—which would entail a severe shakeup of bank ownership in Lebanon.
The banking lobby, for its part, is pushing for solutions like Souaid’s plan, claiming that all other proposals are driven by foreign investment ambitions, ultimately aiming to take control of the banking sector.
The government has also proposed a new law to scrap banking secrecy rules in Lebanon, which prohibits banks from disclosing customer information without their consent, even to government entities. The media outlets aligned with the banking lobby were quick to defend banking secrecy, saying it is needed to preserve the sector’s appeal and maintain confidence in it.
Proponents of lifting banking secrecy, however, say that removing such restrictions is necessary for implementing the restructuring of the banking sector, by uncovering the causes of accumulated losses and addressing them. In reality, bankers and their allies fear the lifting of banking secrecy would uncover major violations that generated significant profits for them at the expense of depositors’ funds. Among these practices are the “financial engineering” operations that yielded large profits for the banks while causing losses to the central bank, depleting the depositors’ funds it held.
Support needed
This anti-reform campaign is not the first of its kind in Lebanon, and will not be the last that targets any effort aimed at genuine change that challenges entrenched private interests.
What took place during the recent media campaign is a clear indication of the banking lobby’s insistence on opposing even the minimal reforms needed to exit the current financial crisis. It also serves as evidence of the media power wielded by this lobby, and its ability to divert attention away from serious discussions about the optimal path for financial recovery.
This underscores the need to focus efforts on supporting independent media institutions, which, over the past years, have played a key role in exposing the violations that led to the crisis and its persistence. Civil society organizations must support these media platforms, advocacy centers, and economists in amplifying their voices, in order to shed light on the reforms Lebanon needs to emerge from its crisis. As for the Lebanese government, it must finish drafting the law proposal on judicial independence to ensure that the courts are not used to silence such reformist voices.
For their part, parliamentary blocs must expedite the discussion and approval of the law aimed at lifting banking secrecy, which was drafted by the government, to expose violations that have occurred over the past years. Similarly, the parliament must move quickly to pass the bank restructuring law, once it is approved by the government, in order to find fair solutions to the depositors’ crisis, away from the influence of the bankers’ media campaigns.
Ali Noureddeen is a Senior Inclusive Economies Associate at TIMEP, focusing on issues related to fiscal policies, socioeconomic inequalities, and social protection in Lebanon.