The Promise of Digital Activism

               This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published with the incomplete title above in March of 2022 at   https://www.cfr.org/blog/promise-digital-activism-and-its-dangers-0. The second was published in 2023 at https://journals.openedition.org/ctd/8489

                During the toppling of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, activists were using social media to mobilize a large-scale revolution for democracy and human rights, Mubarak had "shut down" the internet and jailed Egyptian bloggers to crush dissent. Since then, I have been fascinated by the role of social media as an organizing tool, even as I remain cautious about the role of government censorship and surveillance. From the subsequent uprisings in the middle east to the Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements in the U.S. to the role of social media in the Ukraine-Russia information war today, it has become apparent that social media is a powerful tool for both those who seek to enhance and those who seek to limit freedom. Through the Foreign Relations' roundtables series, I was fortunate to speak about how some groups use their social media to advocate for societal improvements. Brooke Welles, Professor at Northeastern University provided some insights as to how hashstag activism influences mainstream media coverage, representing a transformative opportunity to inject new narratives and the way we talk about things. The activists at the center of these digital campaigns are incredibly important. While some not familiar with social media justice campaigns might believe that movements like Black Lives Matter erupted spontaneously during the summer of 2020, Welles remind us that this is not the case. In fact, activists tend to operate in digital networks that overlap with justice movements that have a presence "on the ground", allowing activists to learn and develop effective strategies to spread their message. As a result, each subsequent movement grows larger and gathers steam more quickly.  Despite the power of online activism to change national and international conversations, significant backlash to these online campaigns presents enormous risks to activists. This backlash is certainly not unique to digital activism. Welles noted that as soon as any activist group starts to have some inroads to power, you get the backlash. And questioned whether there were any social movements that were not met with backlash. The real question is whether activists decide to endure that backlash or not. While the backlash activists experience is very serious and threatening, it should not be taken as evidence that the movement is unsuccessful or should stop. Even though backlash in authoritarian regimes is particularly severe, such as the imprisonment of activists, backlash presents a problem in democratic countries as well. In addition to suppression of freedom of speech, recent restrictions target activists and their families, Such restrictions reflect both the power of civil rights progress as well as the significant retaliation justice activists face. Recently, we have seen a surge in both online and offline activism in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia activists have found creative ways to organize protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin while Ukrainian activists have used the internet to find evidence of Russian war crimes. As a testament to the crucial role large tech companies play, some have observed that Russia's usual disinformation campaigns on display during Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, are not as effective this time around. Tech companies have implemented new policies and devoted more resources to countering Russian disinformation. Others have described these measures as inconsistent and inadequate to confront the magnitude of Russia's disinformation efforts. Moreover, experts have increasingly called attention to coordinated disinformation campaigns on TikTok and TikTok's failure to adequately contain the problem. Another report indicates influencers on Russia TikTok are being paid to promote propaganda from Kremlin. Digital activism is not as simple as someone clicking retweet, which all too often involves enormous risk to the activists themselves or can result in spreading disinformation. Welles remind us that digital movements depend on the extent to which a few powerful companies are willing to defend free speech, even in the face of immense pressure. The U.S. government could also do more to support digital activism by reevaluating its partnerships with authoritarian regimes and directing more aid to human rights organizations and digital rights groups.                                                                                                                    We are now part of an ecosystem where digital technologies and social media are the core of communication. They have promoted what is known as civic tech; technologies aimed at improving democratic participation.  Social media exposure produces another way of confronting the reality and offers the possibility of establishing an identity relationship with the environment. At the same time, collective action that participates in the way of communicating, informing and interacting. Movements become audible and visible, with messages, texts, images and videos posted on social media, as well as on mass media. As a result, the communication and activist dynamics within the framework of the new movements lead to questioning the themes and problems under discussion, as well as the repertories of communication and action regarding the new and traditional movements.