The Impact of Social Networks and Mobile Technologies on the Revolutions in the Arab World—A Study of Egypt and Tunisia

Alana Maurushat, Mohamed Chawki, Hadeel Al-Alosi and Yassin El Shazly
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Alana Maurushat: Faculty of Law, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Mohamed Chawki: International Association of Cybercrime Prevention (AILCC), 1-3 rue Frédérick Lemaître, Paris 75020, France
Hadeel Al-Alosi: Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts, The University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Yassin El Shazly: College of Law, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar

Laws, 2014, vol. 3, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: Revolts in Tunisia and Egypt have led many observers to speak of the “first digital revolution” in the Arab world. Social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are now recognised as the important tools that facilitated the “Jasmine Revolution”. In fact, the willingness of the Mubarak government to block all internet connection in Egypt has demonstrated the concern over the power of new technologies in facilitating political change. The tenacity of the social movements that are still on-going in the Arab world continues to demonstrate the important role that networked technologies—such as the internet, satellite channels and social networking sites—play in revolutions. The revolutions demonstrate an effective use of social media and other network technologies as an organisational tool, and as a means of asserting pressure on current rulers and future governments. Accordingly, this article seeks to expose freedom of expression as a fundamental democratic principle and the internet network as a vehicle driving the demonstrations in the Arab countries of Tunisia and Egypt.

Keywords: Arab Spring; social networking; freedom of expression; Jasmine Revolution; censorship; Egypt; Tunisia; revolution; Internet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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