Social media and political protest mobilization: unveiling the dynamics of the Arab Spring 2.0

This article attempts to analyze the role that social media plays in political movements and collective action, and the events of the Arab Spring and the Arab Spring 2.0 are used as a case study. This is due to the existing controversy among researchers who are trying to determine the extent of the influence of social media on the Arab Spring revolutions, especially the events of the Arab Spring 2.0, which has not been adequately addressed in the scientific literature. It is very difficult to deny the significant role these electronic platforms played in organizing and motivating the hundreds of thousands of protesters who came to the streets in many Arab countries to demand social change and structural reforms in the country. The increase in political and social grievances, the spread of unemployment and corruption, and the feeling of relative deprivation and dissatisfaction are all motives that call for violence and eventual conflict if massive popular discontent is not responded to. This article argues that social media has accelerated mobilization in political movements due to grievances so severe that people are motivated to protest in mass. In this article, a literature review has been used as a research method, and the results of the literature review have shown that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have also played an important role in organizing and calling for protests in the context of the Arab Spring 2.0. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.