WikiLeaks and the Arab Spring: The Twists and Turns of Media, Culture, and Power

Abstract

In 2011, global audiences followed the uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with inspiration, fascination, and astonishment. The use of media technologies and social media platforms became a focal point of discourse and spurred debates between techno-utopians and techno-dystopians as to the role new technology played in what came to be referred to as the “Arab Spring.” This chapter engages with the question of whether WikiLeaks’ releases of material related to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) contributed to the sudden explosion of angry protests, and it argues that such a connection exists, even though it has to be considered in the context of the broader media landscape and the political environment of the region. Further, the chapter places WikiLeaks in the context of emerging communication platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, which provided a human narrative on the activities and effects of oppressive regimes in the MENA region and served as important tools in the fight for freedom and democracy. Social media helped dissidents to organize protests and voice anger, and their social and cultural effects concerned conceptions of the individual vis-a-vis established authorities, destabilized societal attitudes toward authority and established hierarchies, and highlighted their own role in the construction of knowledge.