"Vietnamese nationalism has a strong undercurrent of anti-China sentiments, and Vietnam’s leaders have regularly tapped into such sentiments to shore up their legitimacy and boost Vietnamese nationalism. Over the last decade, the helter-skelter growth of social media has bred new popular actors in
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Vietnamese cybersphere, who are deeply nationalistic but who pursue entirely different political and social agendas. In sum, they give rise to a new nationalistic narrative, one that paints the Vietnam Communist Party as being often too meek and subservient to China, and calls for drastic reforms to the political system—regime change not excluded—to deal with Chinese threats. An examination of prominent cases of online Vietnamese nationalism shows that anti-China sentiments have been a recurrent theme and a consistent trigger. The online nationalistic movements have been mostly instigated by popular figures, with state actors playing a facilitating role in stoking and harnessing them for their own ends. Manifestations of online nationalism, especially those centred on anti-China and sovereignty issues, may hold serious consequences, including violence and deadly riots. In some instances, online nationalistic campaigns both galvanize and dissipate relatively quickly once state and popular actors have somehow managed to achieve their aims. The growing salience of online Vietnamese nationalism has posed serious challenges and dilemmas for the regime. The authorities have had to encourage nationalistic patriotism without letting Sinophobia spiral out of control or turn against the regime." (Executive summary)
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"This study used Twitter advertisements to solicit survey participation from the most-influential members of pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia communities of Twitter users identified in an analysis of 25 million Russian language tweets emanating from Eastern Europe. Survey results suggest that pro-Ukraine
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activists are eager to counter Russian influence. Large percentages of respondents reported using Twitter to help counter Russian influence, and they take this activism to other social media accounts and offline channels, including talking to family members or friends and - to a lesser extent - participating in advocacy groups. At least half of the sample reported being open to receiving additional social media training, and most did not seem opposed to taking this support from the European Union, United States, or Ukraine. However, a hypothetical agreement to receive funding or participate in training does not mean that participants actually would do so. Following a brand ambassador model would help connect influential users with training and content. This model would involve reaching out, building an initial relationship, and establishing trust with these activists. It might be possible to help such users join together to advocate for a unified and democratic Ukraine, increase awareness of particular Russian influence campaigns, disseminate memes or video content addressing media literacy, or identify Russian bots and trolls." (Key findings)
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"There is a growing public and academic debate on the societal impacts of the internet and, in particular, social media. For its proponents, social media is a force for change, which can challenge entrenched hierarchies, redistribute power, democratize information, support mass mobilization and cont
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ribute to the building of global movements. Increasingly such positivist arguments are being questioned. Critics argue that it has become a sinister force, facilitating the spread of ‘fake news’, providing an instrument for citizen surveillance and re-enforcing neoliberal hegemony. The community development literature has barely engaged in those debates around social media that appear urgent in other disciplines. Social media has been seen as a value-free tool for broadcasting and dissemination, and neither evaluated as a force for change nor examined as an instrument of neoliberal intents. Although there is a community development literature on neoliberalism and globalization, it often accepts these, rather than critiques them, as the contexts within which community development operates. Challenging established power imbalances and enhancing citizen participation in democratic processes are purposes central to community development values. Analysis of wider literature raises questions with regard to the values embedded in the technologies from which enhanced levels of participation and engagement are expected to flow. It also raises questions about who benefits most from the affordances of these technologies. This article, drawing on an extensive literature review, presents the case for community development values to be asserted in these debates." (Abstract)
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"This book reflects on the role of social media in the past two decades in Southeast Asia. It traces the emergence of social media discourse in Southeast Asia, and its potential as a "liberation technology" in both democratizing and authoritarian states. It explains the growing decline in internet f
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reedom and increasingly repressive and manipulative use of social media tools by governments, and argues that social media is now an essential platform for control. The contributors detail the increasing role of "disinformation" and "fake news" production in Southeast Asia, and how national governments are creating laws which attempt to address this trend, but which often exacerbate the situation of state control. From Grassroots Activism to Disinformation explores three main questions: How did social media begin as a vibrant space for grassroots activism to becoming a tool for disinformation? Who were the main actors in this transition: governments, citizens or the platforms themselves? Can reformists "reclaim" the digital public sphere? And if so, how?" (Publisher description)
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"Fake News, Hate Speech und Rassismus im Netz: Soziale Medien bieten Menschen und Organisationen auch dafür eine Plattform. Wie kann man gegensteuern und selbst aktiv für Demokratie, Meinungsvielfalt und die Entgiftung des gesellschaftlichen Klimas eintreten? Said Rezek, Politikwissenschaftler und
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Journalist, bezieht seit Jahren als Blogger Stellung gegen Rassismus und Hass im Netz. In diesem Buch vermittelt er das Handwerkszeug dazu: Was macht einen reichweitenstarken Blog aus? Zu welchen Themen und Anlässen lohnt sich die Positionierung? Welche Beitragsformen – z.B. Tweets, Memes, Listicles oder Offene Briefe - kann man speziell in Social Media einsetzen? Wie arbeitet man selbst gleichermaßen rechtssicher und kompetent und schützt sich vor Verletzungen der eigenen Privatsphäre? Das Buch bietet zahlreiche praktische Beispiele, wie, wann und wofür es sich zu bloggen lohnt, um Gegnern einer vielfältigen, friedlichen und demokratischen Gesellschaft nicht das Feld zu überlassen." (Buchrücken)
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"Verständnis der technischen und kulturellen Besonderheiten der algorithmusgetriebenen App, die vorhandene Bestandteile bereits bekannter Social-Media-Plattformen kombiniert und weiterentwickelt. Statt Reichweitenaufbau geht es bei TikTok um Vertrauensaufbau. Mithilfe eines Analyserasters werden im
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Folgenden die Möglichkeiten und Bedingungen der Plattform anhand ihrer Gestaltungselemente identifiziert und erklärt. Es wird mittels qualitativer Beobachtung exemplarisch gezeigt, wie deutsche Politiker*innen die App bereits erfolgreich nutzen und wo dies misslingt. Ein Überblick der deutschsprachigen linken Öffentlichkeit bei TikTok zeigt die Vielgestaltigkeit der Themen und Akteur*innen. Daraus werden konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen abgeleitet, die auf Interaktion, Dialog und dem Beherrschen jeweils aktueller Kulturtechniken beruhen – von der Wahl des richtigen Emojis bis zur Verwendung eines geschickt eingesetzten Zooms im Bild. In Anbetracht einer fehlenden One-size-fits-all-Lösung empfehlen wir die Ausgestaltung eines digitalen Werkzeugkastens, der neben einem gut sortierten und stets aktuellen Instrumentarium auf das geschickte Bedienen der Werkzeuge setzt." (Zusammenfassung, Seite 6)
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"Malaysia’s Pakatan Harapan government fell rapidly in late February 2020 as a result of coalition infighting and power struggles among the political elite. A major factor in the government’s sudden collapse was rising ethnoreligious tension between Muslim-Malay nationalists in the opposition an
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d ethnic Chinese who formed part of the ruling coalition. Such tension appeared to have grown over the 22-month period of the multi-ethnic coalition government, leading to concern about political polarization and the potential for communal unrest in Malaysia. Malaysia follows a pattern seen recently in other countries (e.g., Indonesia, United States) where the rise to public office of a minority has been followed by an anti-pluralist backlash. Social media played an important role in Malaysia during this period in amplifying and reinforcing religious and ethnic-based appeals. An analysis of social media data shows that, by one measure, the volume of anti-Chinese sentiment online spiked in the days around the fall of the government. Although unrest was avoided during these events, more research is needed on the interplay between social media and polarization in Malaysia. The events leading to the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government indicate that Malaysia may be following the Indonesian trend, where the primary cleavage is not one of race but of religious conservatives versus cosmopolitan pluralists." (Executive summary)
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"This research performs a thematic analysis on tweets published during Brazil’s 2018 elections that mentioned communism. The idea was to identify the linkages to other underlying themes that emerged during what we saw as the Twitter ‘virality of communism’ and interpret them considering the ba
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ckdrop of anti-communist discourses in the country. The results show that political polarisation, distrust of democracy, criticism of the left and praise of militarism and religion are the most recurrent themes. We conclude by situating the virality of the term ‘communism’ as a process that follows a context of disinformation and hopelessness, but which also relates to the legitimate concerns of Brazilian voters." (Abstract)
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"Political divisions, the economic downturn after 2006, and technological disruptions have enabled Thai authorities to limit public space for political discussion and expression. People in Thailand have turned to social media instead. At present, the hashtag (#) is a growing tool for all kinds of po
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litical expression, intruding even into the taboo issue of the monarchy. Facebook, YouTube, Line and Twitter are popular platforms for netizens to publicize their political views. Authorities under Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha have moved aggressively to put restrictions on these channels. Netizens in the country are now seeking new platforms for political expression." (Executive summary)
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"This paper explores the spillover of protests across countries using data on nonviolent and spontaneous demonstrations for 200 countries from 2000 to 2020. Using an autoregressive spatial model, the analysis finds strong evidence of “contagious protests,” with a catalyzing role of social media.
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In particular, social media penetration in the source and destination of protests leads to protest spillovers between countries. There is evidence of parallel learning between streets of nations alongside the already documented learning between governments." (Abstract)
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"Ammann hat den Aufstieg der sozialen Medien von Anfang an begleitet und zieht Bilanz: Sie bieten auf der einen Seite große Chancen für die Demokratie. Die effektive Nachbarschaftshilfe während der Pandemie oder der immense Erfolg von #fridaysforfuture und #blacklivesmatter basieren auf der Reich
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weite von Social Media. Auf der anderen Seite unterminieren sie aber zugleich die demokratischen Grundlagen: durch die Verbreitung von Fake News und Verschwörungstheorien, vor allem aber auch, weil die global agierenden Betreiber sich nur an ihre eigenen Regeln halten. Was dem Einzelnen Freiheit verspricht, begünstigt eine manipulative Gegenöffentlichkeit, die Falschmeldungen und Hass verbreitet. Ammann hat zahllose Beispiele und Fakten zusammengetragen, die deutlich machen: Der Kampf um unser politisches System hat bereits begonnen – aber die Machtprobe ist noch lange nicht entschieden." (Buchrücken)
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"Searching for a New Kenya analyses public discussion in urban Kenya, focusing on the gatherings of citizens, both in-person and online, where people discuss issues of common concern to shed light on the role public discussion plays in politics and how social media affects political movements. Throu
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gh rich ethnographic study of politics on the ground and online in Mombasa, Stephanie Diepeveen brings a fresh perspective on the wider challenges and dynamics of negotiating political narratives across protracted historical debates and changing digital media. Based on a critical revision of Hannah Arendt's ideas about action and power, this study explores the different dynamics of public talk in practice. It contributes to wider debates about the place and limitations of the Western canon in relation to the study of politics elsewhere, while also offering a nuanced view of why and how certain terms of debate persist in Kenya, and where the potential for change lies for public talk across changing media." (Publisher description)
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"[This study] aims at giving an overview of media platforms / citizen media platforms in Lebanon producing quality public interest journalism in print, radio, television, or digital formats. It encompasses profiling information about various existing alternative media platforms and provides informat
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ion on user interaction, including information on which media/ citizen media people are using and why, how are people using the media platforms, and what people’s information needs are. Concurrently, the study works to identify alternative media platform pressing needs and challenges faced." (Scope and puprose, page 5)
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"WhatsApp is a key medium for the spread of news and rumors, often shared as images. We study a large collection of politically-oriented WhatsApp groups in India, focusing on the period leading up to the 2019 Indian national elections. By labeling samples of random and popular images, we find that a
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round 10% of shared images are known misinformation and most fall into three types of images. Machine learning methods can be used to predict whether a viral image is misinformation, but are brittle to shifts in content over time." (Abstract)
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"This book brings together fresh evidence and new theoretical frameworks in a unique analysis of the increasing role of social media in political campaigns and electoral processes across Africa. Supported by contemporary and historical cases studies, it engages with the main drives behind the variou
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s appropriations of social media for election campaigns, organization, and voter mobilization. Contributors in this volume delve into changing and complex aspects of social media, offering an appraisal of theoretical perspectives and examining fascinating case studies which social media use is redefining elections across Africa. Contributions show that new media ecologies are resulting in new policy regimes, user behaviors, and communication models that have implications for electoral processes. The book also provides preliminary analysis of emerging forms of algorithm-driven campaigns, fake news, information distortions and other methods that undermine electoral democracy in Africa." (Publisher description)
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"Migration has been dominating media and political discourses in Europe in recent years. Previous studies have mainly mapped migration discourses in traditional media or conventional channels of party communication, often in a single country. Migrationrelated party communication on social network si
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tes has been largely neglected. This study analyses migration discourses in the Facebook accounts of political actors (n = 1702) across six European countries (Spain, UK, Germany, Austria, Sweden and Poland). On the basis of automated content analyses, we present new insights into the visibility of migration as a topic and sentiment about migration, revealing country- and party-specific patterns. Migration is a more prominent topic in countries with positive net migration (‘receiving countries’) than in countries where net migration is neutral or negative. Although we did not find support for the assumption that right-leaning parties talk more, and more negatively, about migration, our results do suggest a distinct pattern that applies to parties of both the extreme left and the extreme right. Political actors from parties of the extreme left and the extreme right of the political spectrum address migration more frequently and more negatively than more moderate political players." (Abstract)
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"Since the Arab uprisings of 2011, Palestinian youth movements have formed unofficial and leaderless networks of political activism, using the internet to mobilise and bring together three generations of Palestinian activists. This book focuses on three key case studies that have marked a turning po
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int in the development of youth-organised and grassroots Palestinian politics: the 15 March movement in Gaza, the Palestinians for Dignity movement in the West Bank, and the Prawer movement of young Palestinians in Israel. Drawing on extensive fieldwork composed of interviews with leading Palestinian activists in the West Bank and Gaza and detailed analysis of social media patterns, this book offers a fresh reading of Palestinian youth and their central online and offline role in popular protests against both Israeli and Palestinian power structures." (Publisher description)
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"Donald Trump, the Arab Spring, Brexit: Digital media have provided political actors and citizens with new tools to engage in politics. These tools are now routinely used by activists, candidates, nongovernmental organizations, and parties to inform, mobilize, and persuade people. But what are the e
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ffects of this retooling of politics? Do digital media empower the powerless or are they breaking democracy? Have these new tools and practices fundamentally changed politics or is their impact just a matter of degree? This clear-eyed guide steps back from hyperbolic hopes and fears to offer a balanced account of what aspects of politics are being shaped by digital media and what remains unchanged. The authors discuss data-driven politics, the flow and reach of political information, the effects of communication interventions through digital tools, their use by citizens in coordinating political action, and what their impact is on political organizations and on democracy at large." (Publisher description)
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