Like YouTube, Ikbis attracts humorous clips. But politics are never far behind in the Mideast; users have shared George W. Bush parodies and home movies of the recent wars in Lebanon and Gaza. The Saddam Hussein execution video was up briefly, before administrators took it offline for being too disturbing. (“We all agreed that in a region full of atrocities, that reality needs to be conveyed somewhere, but not on Ikbis,” site co-creator George Akra wrote in an e-mail.)
Ibkis’s creators say they hope to provide a public forum for a region where most governments keep a tight lid on public expression. “Every camera-phone-carrying citizen can be a contributor,” says Ahmad Humeid, an Amman-based graphic designer and a site founder. “I think we’re all, globally, just starting to understand the power of these digital tools.”
