Use of social media in Arab Springs

Use of social media in Arab Springs

The use of social media in Arab Springs made it possible for Islamic Fundamentalist to take advantage to use the same to facilitate a terror attack. A group such as ISIS which is an Islamic state recruit thousands of people through Facebook and Twitter. The group makes use of social media to spread terror attack in international countries. They create disturbing videos via the internet, and this increases their chances of getting many followers. The issue is handled by banning accounts used concerning the Islamic States. After Arab Springs, ISIS took advantage of the followers gained to get followers and to recruit people. The groups aim at radicalizing the whole population which may not necessarily be possible in a contemporary world. Government tries to make an effort with an aim to discourage twitter accounts that encourage Islamic fundamentalists. Many Facebook account and twitters had been blocked, and others deleted which got suspected of being linked to Islamic states. Facebook and Twitter were mainly used to protect Islamic content or to report what they want to disperse to the public.

Conclusions

It is evident that social media played a crucial role in the continuation of Arab springs. It is worth also to note that the impact of social media varied across countries. Tunisia and Egypt got more influence on social media when compared to Syria and Yemen. Studies show that the use of Facebook rose at a high rate in countries where Facebook was not highly used due to political uprising. A country like Libya still had a low number of people connected to Facebook even after the occurrence of protests. Government from different countries reacted differently to the use of social media. For instance, the government of Tunisia only blocked specific website while the Egyptian government went ahead to all block some Facebook pages where protests were being held. Although social media played a significant role in coordinating and mobilizing the civilians, it did not play any role in resolving conflicts in the long-run.

One needs to understand that despite the role played by social media it can never serve to give people democracy. It only allows people to create social unrest in protest against the unjust government, but justice may not get achieved on the ground. Decisions made via social media may not be hierarchical, and this makes it hard to be written for future reference. The civil action did not involve the government, and this made it problematic to have a better process of change. Civic resistance should only be accompanied by government support unless it has a well-laid plan which also requires professionals to implement it. The role of Facebook and Twitter need to be given more attention to determine the exact relationship it had towards Arab springs.

 
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