(ITD3a) Internet, Technology, & Social Movements I

This session presents a comprehensive exploration of the dynamic interplay between digital technologies and activism across various global contexts such as Iran, China, and Ecuador. This multidisciplinary investigation encompasses the study of state repression mechanisms, including digital surveillance and disinformation, and the innovative, decentralized digital mobilization strategies employed by activists worldwide. Overall, the session offers a rich tapestry of research that not only highlights the transformative power of digital tools in activism but also the complex challenges activists face in different political and social contexts. By weaving together these diverse strands of research, the session aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the evolving landscape of digital activism and its implications for the future of social movements and public discourse. Tags: Digital Studies, Equality and Inequality, Technology

Organizer: Andrey Kasimov, McMaster University; Chair: Andrey Kasimov, McMaster University

Presentations

Christine Taylhardat, Western University

The Public Sphere on X: an analysis of an Ecuadorian social movement

Over the last two decades, an ever-increasing share of human communication has turned towards online spaces. However, in academic literature, the quality of these new forms of connection remains in question. Since Jürgen Habermas (1989) introduced the theory of the public sphere, there is now a debate in the public sphere literature of whether the public sphere can still exist in online spaces (e.g., Bruns 2018; Della Porta 2022; Habermas 2022; Kellner 2024; Papacharissi 2002; Rosa 2022; Sevignani 2022). The original formulation of the public sphere is a space for individuals to interact and deliberate over public issues in a rational and constructive manner. With the Internet, and social media, these spaces have moved to an online sphere. While Habermas (2022) is less optimistic of the state of the public sphere in light of new media, other studies on online public spaces indicate that the public sphere can exist and is evolving over time. Using the recent #SiAlYasuni campaign that mobilized in Ecuador in 2023 through the social media platform X, this study seeks to examine whether a hashtag like this can become a public sphere. More specifically, the paper asks to what degree was the #SiAlYasuni movement debated on X? What properties of a public sphere appeared in its hashtag on X? Using tweets scraped from X, the paper finds that, unlike some social platforms, the affordances of X allow users to directly interact with each other through comments, retweets, and likes, providing a setting for easy discussion where a public sphere can potentially form around key issues. The singular, unifying hashtag #SiAlYasuni also facilitates the formation of a public sphere by creating a space where individuals are discussing this specific issue. Using a quantitative content analysis, this study created a coding scheme to systematically measure specific features of the public sphere. The coding scheme operationalizes concepts from the public sphere such as deliberation, civility, and criticism based on previous literature such as Del Valle et al. (2020), Freelon (2015), and Koopmanz and Olzak (2004). Following the coding of the post metrics and text, this study analyzes the data to reveal patterns in how users interact within online spaces. This study aims to add to the existing literature on the public sphere and its application to online spaces, as well as the quality of democratic debates in these spaces. Likewise, this study will also further our understanding on how social movements use online platforms to diffuse their message and debate current issues.

Parizad Bahardoost, Islamic Azad University

The role of digital media and technologies in enabling, shaping, and challenging the discourses of social movements (case study, Woman-Life-Freedom movement in Iran).

This research explores how digital media and technologies helped opposition groups in Iran communicate their Woman-Life-Freedom movement, which started in 2022 after the death a Kurdish woman arrested for not wearing hijab. The movement demanded the end of compulsory hijab against women. How digital tools influenced the mobilization and organization of social movements, and how they challenged the government and other groups in power. Also examines how digital tools, enabled opposition groups to reach out to global audiences and networks, to amplify their messages and narratives, to document and expose human rights violation, and to create alternative spaces for expression and resistance.

Zahra Falahatpisheh, Western University

The community, action, and information functions of social media posts during the 2022 and 2023 Iranian Masha Amini protests: A cross-platform comparison of posts by activist influencers on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram

Social media has become an important tool in feminist hashtag movements (Quan-Haase et al., 2021; Rentschler, 2015). When examining feminist movements, there is a core group of users, referred to as influencers, that post often and engage with content and other users. These central players have many followers and, as a result, have greater influence on the spread of the social movement and its focus. Knowing that influencers can be central catalysts in activist efforts (Huber et al., 2022), there is a need to study how influencers contribute to the spread of a social movement including the type of content they post, and what function their content has. With feminist causes spreading globally and influencers playing such a central role, it becomes important to understand the functions of influencers who operate in censored environments. In this paper, we focus on the 2022/2023 Masha Amini Iranian protests. In the 2022/2023 Masha Amini Iranian protests activist influencers have not only encouraged and created spaces for "generating discourse on various social, cultural, and political issues in Iran" (Tahmasebi‐Birgani, 2017, p. 186), but they have also fueled the movement's spread from both inside and outside of Iran. In this study, we draw from Lovejoy and Saxton's (2012) theoretical framework of microblogging functions to examine the types of functions of activist influencers' content. The present study investigates the diffusion of protest-related content across social media platforms to investigate cross-platform differences. These differences create a need for a comparative lens that challenges the notion of social media as a homogeneous and undifferentiated unit (Matassi and Boczkowski, 2023). Thus, the present paper has two research goals: 1. To understand the communicative functions microblogging serves for activist influencers in the 2022/2023 Iranian protests on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. 2. To identify and describe the similarities and differences between how activist influencers use X and Instagram for their activism related to the 2022/2023 Iranian protests. To examine the use of social media by activist influencers during the Iran protests, we conducted a content analysis. Our sample included 18 activist influencers living both in Iran and abroad who published protest-related content on X and Instagram. We used Apify (https://apify.com ), a web scraping tool, to collect publicly available X and Instagram posts from each of the 18 influencers during the protests. To analyze the data, we developed a preliminary coding scheme based on the theory of microblogging functions. To achieve the first research goal, we identified three functions microblogging serves for activist influencers in the 2022/2023 Iranian protests on X and Instagram. We found that information was the most common function of influencers' posts. The central aim of sharing information-based content centered around educating followers, a process that occurred both formally and informally. We also found differences in how influencers shared information to reach diverse audiences. We also uncovered a gendered lens across the information influencers shared. Taking action was the second most prominent function and encouraged followers to get further involved. This function encouraged their followers to raise their voice to continue creating awareness of the injustices. It involved calling for passive and active actions. Calling to action was present across numerous posts on both platforms, with actions encompassing both online and offline activities. The third prominent function of influencers' posts was related to building community. At the core of these posts, was the need for activists--both inside and outside of Iran--to come together to support the protests for the purposes of unity and solidarity. Fostering community occurred at various levels: individual, national, and international. We found that influencers drew attention to the importance of emotions and feelings, such as mourning, anger, rage, and pride. In pursuit of the second research objective, our study revealed that influencers utilized both platforms in similar and distinct ways. These distinctions were most evident in terms of content type and posting frequency on these platforms. On Instagram, we observed a greater diversity in content types compared to X. X appeared to serve as the primary platform for certain influencers, as indicated by their posting frequency on both platforms. Our findings highlight similarities: influencers often shared similar or identical content styles across both X and Instagram.

---

Non-presenting author: Anabel Quan Haase, Western University; Molly-Gloria Patel, Western University

SiLang Huang, University of Toronto

Workers' Digital Resistance in China: Unorganized Labor Mobilization and Authoritarian Resilience

Emergent technologies are transforming contentious interactions between activists and authoritarian governments. As the physical space for organized labor activism is undermined by the Chinese authoritarian regime, unorganized and decentralized digital labor activism has become increasingly crucial for labor movement in China, especially among the younger generation workforce. Young workers have historically been central to revolutionary movements. However, the Chinese party state’s contemporary narratives emphasize them largely as economic assets, leading to a series of counter-movements by unorganized young workers against the state’s development agenda. While dissidents have more frequently used digital platforms to foster collective actions, authoritarian regimes have increasingly deployed new technologies to preemptively suppress oppression such as using automation to spread disinformation and digital surveillance tools with the newest algorithms to identify activists. Although Chinas authoritarian regime has maintained its regime resilience despite a massive surge of digital activism, unorganized and decentralized digital mobilization offers a new pathway for labor activism under a repressive state. This study explores the emergent dynamics of unorganized labor mobilization within the digital sphere in China, a context where traditional, organized labor activism faces severe repression from the authoritarian regime. Drawing upon political ethnography and mixed methods, the study is anchored in Tilly, McAdam, and Tarrow’s foundational social movement framework of “repertories of contention,” alongside Deibert’s insights on digital authoritarianism and Chenoweth’s work on nonviolent civil resistance. This framework guides the examination of the interplay between state repression mechanisms, including digital surveillance and disinformation, and the decentralized, digital mobilization strategies employed by young workers. The research employs digital ethnography, participant observation, and surveys to delve into the lived experiences of young workers involved in digital and decentralized labor activism, offering a nuanced understanding of their motivations, challenges, and the states countermeasures. The study argues that despite the Chinese authoritarian regime’s efforts to pre-empt digital activism through sophisticated surveillance and information control tactics, unorganized and decentralized digital mobilization presents a novel form of labor activism. This form of mobilization not only sustains the spirit of labor resistance but also fosters connections with broader social movements, challenging the state’s authoritarian resilience. The research highlights how digital platforms serve as critical spaces for the expression of contested ideas and the organization of labor strikes, thereby contributing to a redefined landscape of political and ideological debates in China. The findings suggest that digital labor activism represents a significant shift in the tactics of labor mobilization under authoritarian regimes, offering new avenues for resistance and potentially reshaping authoritarian durability. Despite the state’s efforts to control and suppress digital activism, the persistence and innovation of unorganized labor mobilization indicate a resilient and adaptive form of collective action. This study contributes to the broader discourse on labor activism in the digital age, emphasizing the importance of understanding digital pathways of resistance within authoritarian contexts. This research directly engages with the session theme of “Internet, Technology, and Social Movements” by demonstrating how digital platforms have become crucial arenas for labor activism and resistance against state repression in China. It offers empirical and theoretical contributions to our understanding of the complex interrelations between technology, social movements, and authoritarian resilience. By examining the role of unorganized labor in the digital age, this study fosters a critical dialogue between social movement research and digital sociology, highlighting the transformative potential of technology in redefining political and social activism.