Digital Media Concepts/Social Media Technology and the Arab Spring

                    Social Media Technology and the Arab Spring

Introduction

The Arab Spring describes the various protests, uprisings, and political movements that occurred across the Middle East and North Africa starting in late 2010. In these movements, for example in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and the Syrian conflict, there were calls for democracy, freedom, and social reform. One of the important features of the Arab Spring was the use of social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as communication and mobilization practices. The Arab Spring represented a pivotal moment for digital technology, influencing global activism, thus making evident the agency and limitations of social media platforms on political change.

Background

The media in the Arab world before the Arab Spring was mainly dominated by government-backed outlets, which imposed limitations on expression. In many areas, the free press was usually under heavy restrictions, and public opposition was mostly subjected to severe censorship. Nevertheless, we now have the year 2010 and the internet, along with mobile devices' growing accessibility, is creating a new communications technology. The citizens would use the new social networking, along with the more common media, to voice their complaints and organize protests.

The first significant event took place in December 2010 in Tunisia, after the act of self-immolation of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, whose unfortunate death became a symbol of a fight against the corrupt government. The videos and the messages regarding the situation around him were quickly disseminated over Facebook and Twitter, which resulted in protests and, finally, the resignation of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia in January 2011. Eventually, the revolution of Tunisia would be the first one to lead to regime change, of course, through various demonstrations organized by the newly emerged citizen journalists, in the cases of Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.

Role of Social Media

Prior to the Arab Spring, the media environment in numerous locales in the Arab world was usually dominated by government-sponsored outlets, which strictly limited free expression. There would occasionally be instances of independent journalism in towns or cities, but usually, public dissent would be censored and/or disallowed. Despite often having to conform to state media outlets, by 2010, a growing online and mobile technology was creating a new communications technology that would provide an avenue for citizens to express grievances and to protest, and to organize protests with established media content.

In December 2010 in Tunisia, the first major catalyst occurred when street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi self-immolated as a protest against governmental corruption and his death became a symbol of an effort to depose the Tunisian government. News stories and video circulated on Facebook and Twitter about Bouazizi's plight, leading to demonstrations and the ousting of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. Eventually, the hope of regime change through citizen journalist-mediated protests that inspired a revolution in Tunisia spread to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.

Government Response and Censorship

While social media opened avenues for communication and mobilization and organizing points for collaboration, it was only a matter of time before governments began to observe the potential and manage the use of social media, including censoring its use while surveilling it. For example, the Egyptian government decided, in an unnecessary measure to disrupt the communications and coordination among activists, to shut down the internet, which it was successful, for five days during the height of the protests in 2011. Likewise, Syrian and Bahraini regimes relied on online surveillance methods to identify and arrest those whom they hired to organize protests.

The use of technology and activity shows the two nonexclusive sides of technology: a tool of empowerment for citizens, but a tool of control for authoritarian regimes. Authors like Evgeny Morozov will argue that technology does not in itself create freedom; rather, it exposes the political and social reality in which it exists.

Criticism and Limitations Researchers have warned that while the protests were able to mobilize rapidly via social media, we should not simply call the Arab Spring a "social media revolution." Many people suggest that while organizing on the ground, local networks, and economic development were important to sustain action, the media aspect alone was too myopic and should not be focused upon in a vacuum. Additionally, Howard and Tufekci suggest that while digital indigenous organizing can help move people into action, important political change is likely to be more complex than mobilizing with social media.

In different contexts, existing movements faced state aggression, civil war, and/or state-led authoritarianism. The Arab Spring demonstrated that while social media can give voice to many people and coordinate action and people across space and time, change cannot happen without the existing institutional structure to support it.

Legacy and Impact

The Arab Spring disrupted conventional thinking on digital activism, drawing renewed interest in social movements such as the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Movement and #BlackLivesMatter, using digital communication primarily via social media as a mechanism for organizing and a means of awareness and rallying supporters. Governments have also taken notice, as they have increased their spending on programs related to online surveillance and digital propaganda to anticipate these actions.

Academic discussions remain ongoing, whether the Arab Spring produced a sense of empowerment or disempowerment, one thing is clear: it is a powerful example of how technologies can reshape the nature of political participation and collective action in relation to citizens.

References

1. Howard, Philip N., and Muzammil M. Hussain. Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring. Oxford University Press, 2013.

2. Tufekci, Zeynep. Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. Yale University Press, 2017.

3. Wolfsfeld, Gadi, Elad Segev, and Tamir Sheafer. “Social Media and the Arab Spring: Politics Comes First.” The International Journal of Press/Politics, vol. 18, no. 2, 2013, pp. 115–137.

4. Morozov, Evgeny. The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom. PublicAffairs, 2011.

5. Abdel Dayem, Mohamed. From Arab Uprisings, Five Trends to Watch. Committee to Protect Journalists, 2012.

6. Lotan, Gilad, et al. “The Revolutions Were Tweeted: Information Flows during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions.” International Journal of Communication, vol. 5, 2011, pp. 1375–1405.