After the recent uprisings in the Arab world, there has been an increase in global interest with the use of social media as a means of expressing personal opinions and demanding political changes in autocratic regimes. New media's effect on the freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia and its ability to provide citizens with a platform will be examined in this page.
1.0 Media history in the Arab world
1.1 State-run media channels and freedom of speech
Since the early introduction of the traditional media channels to the Arab world, whether it was television (TV), radio or newspapers, the governments always have controlled it, broadcasting predominately content that legitimises their political regimes and propaganda1. Any information opposing the government's positions on issues has been censored. Consequently, most of the authoritarian regimes were reluctant to introduce the Internet into their countries due to the difficulties in controlling such a medium, as it is possible to do with state-run media channels. The main fear in doing so was the potential for individuals to congregate and form opposition groups, demanding political reforms that could gain acceptance among the masses. Before the internet, such political demands were stopped by simply arresting the individuals involved for long terms without charging them with any crime or giving them a fair court trial. The government hoped that this would serve as an example of the consequences if others followed in their footsteps.
1.2 The Internet and censorship
Around mid to late 90s, almost every single Arab country has allowed public access to the Internet2 after realising the economical and commercial benefits that could be missed by not providing it. Saudi Arabia and Syria for example, have witnessed cases of accessing the Internet remotely via close-by countries’ Internet service providers (ISPs). Needless to say, after allowing the public access to the Internet via local ISPs, the Internet was severely censored by the governments. Several factors have made this an easy task, where the following are the two key methods of inhibiting Internet use:
high prices in exchange for very slow Internet connection speed
limiting the use of it to specific classes of rich and highly educated people, mostly male adults above the age of 25
Even after the prices for use of the Internet dropped, speeds increased and demographics broadened, some governments continued to strictly supervise the transmission of information within their networks.
The Saudi Communication & Information Technology Commision's Blocked websites message
Saudi Arabia for example, which has a very centralised Internet infrastructure, has only two points through which the country connects with the rest of the world. As every authorised ISP must connect via these two proxy servers, this grants the government the perfect opportunity to censor content ranging from pornography, politics and religion. Similar infrastructures can be found all over the Arab nation, all with differing levels of strictness3.
2.0 The social media genie is out of the bottle
Until the launch of social networking sites in the mid 2000s, most Arab users found their like-minded groups via Vbulletin forums or blogs, and in cases where political reforms were demanded, governments would either block the websites, arrest the individuals involved, or in most cases, both to prevent it from spreading. The introduction of networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter prevented governments from blocking these sites as blocking networks known worldwide would draw international media attention. It is this use of social media to express political and national reform demands in Saudi Arabia that will be further examined in this section:
2.1 Saudi Arabia & social media
Saudi Arabia history with social media started with blogs in 2005. The government blocked blogger, a blogging service provided by Google, and prevent political bloggers from accessing their accounts, potentially arresting users, like the famous political and national reform activist, Foud AlFarahan4. AlFarahan was arrested in 2007 for several months, where in later years, several twitter pages of Saudi human rights activist were blocked. This caused the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information to announce a regulation in early 2010 stating that all Internet publishing sites must obtain a license, permitting the Ministry to treat websites the same way they treat newspapers.
Ironically, when the uprisings swept the Arab world, some Saudis tried to organise similar events in Saudi Arabia with no success due to the lack of participation. Many experts speculated the reasons behind this, where the content was not an attributable cause as most Saudis believe the use of the Internet to deal with national problems an inappropriate method of resolving issues5. On the other hand, Saudis actively used social media to demand national reforms, fight corruption and critique current local events. Examples of such uses would be the extensive use of the hash tag in Twitter to discuss local matters within hours of it occurrence. Some of these hash tags were directed to the king himself, or members of the royal family. Other topics included women driving and voting rights, arresting activist, strict opinions of religious scholars, living expenses, and most of all the Ministry of Culture and Information latest web publishing regulation.
Many young Saudi stand-up comedians were "discovered" in new media, where they used YouTube as a type of sacred haven to communicate their message and demands of national reforms in an entertaining way. YouTube and other social media networks enabled them to interact with their subscribers and discuss local issues of high importance to them.
3.0 Looking to the future
New media has elevated the level of speech freedom and enabled the Arab nation to work in very organised groups, transforming their thoughts and voices into action, as well as in a civilised manner. New media, in certain circumstances, allowed the citizens to outset presidents6, however it is too early to state that social media was the sole cause behind the success of the Arab uprisings. Furthermore, it is not possible to predict whether social media will maintain the same level of freedom and reliability in the future. When referring to the authorities' response to the London riots, their ability to monitor, censor or ban social media certainly raises the question of how the Arab governments will act in the future if the uprisings continue.
4.0 References
Hafez, K (ed.) 2008, Arab Media: Power and Weakness, Continuum, New York.
Loewensten, A 2008, "Saudi Arabia: Blooming online in a fundamentalist desert", The Blogging Revolution, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, pp. 116-140.
New Media Beyond First Worlds
Table of Contents
After the recent uprisings in the Arab world, there has been an increase in global interest with the use of social media as a means of expressing personal opinions and demanding political changes in autocratic regimes. New media's effect on the freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia and its ability to provide citizens with a platform will be examined in this page.
1.0 Media history in the Arab world
1.1 State-run media channels and freedom of speech
Since the early introduction of the traditional media channels to the Arab world, whether it was television (TV), radio or newspapers, the governments always have controlled it, broadcasting predominately content that legitimises their political regimes and propaganda1. Any information opposing the government's positions on issues has been censored. Consequently, most of the authoritarian regimes were reluctant to introduce the Internet into their countries due to the difficulties in controlling such a medium, as it is possible to do with state-run media channels. The main fear in doing so was the potential for individuals to congregate and form opposition groups, demanding political reforms that could gain acceptance among the masses.
Before the internet, such political demands were stopped by simply arresting the individuals involved for long terms without charging them with any crime or giving them a fair court trial. The government hoped that this would serve as an example of the consequences if others followed in their footsteps.
1.2 The Internet and censorship
Around mid to late 90s, almost every single Arab country has allowed public access to the Internet2 after realising the economical and commercial benefits that could be missed by not providing it. Saudi Arabia and Syria for example, have witnessed cases of accessing the Internet remotely via close-by countries’ Internet service providers (ISPs). Needless to say, after allowing the public access to the Internet via local ISPs, the Internet was severely censored by the governments. Several factors have made this an easy task, where the following are the two key methods of inhibiting Internet use:
- high prices in exchange for very slow Internet connection speed
- limiting the use of it to specific classes of rich and highly educated people, mostly male adults above the age of 25
Even after the prices for use of the Internet dropped, speeds increased and demographics broadened, some governments continued to strictly supervise the transmission of information within their networks.Saudi Arabia for example, which has a very centralised Internet infrastructure, has only two points through which the country connects with the rest of the world. As every authorised ISP must connect via these two proxy servers, this grants the government the perfect opportunity to censor content ranging from pornography, politics and religion. Similar infrastructures can be found all over the Arab nation, all with differing levels of strictness3.
2.0 The social media genie is out of the bottle
Until the launch of social networking sites in the mid 2000s, most Arab users found their like-minded groups via Vbulletin forums or blogs, and in cases where political reforms were demanded, governments would either block the websites, arrest the individuals involved, or in most cases, both to prevent it from spreading. The introduction of networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter prevented governments from blocking these sites as blocking networks known worldwide would draw international media attention. It is this use of social media to express political and national reform demands in Saudi Arabia that will be further examined in this section:
2.1 Saudi Arabia & social media
Saudi Arabia history with social media started with blogs in 2005. The government blocked blogger, a blogging service provided by Google, and prevent political bloggers from accessing their accounts, potentially arresting users, like the famous political and national reform activist, Foud AlFarahan4. AlFarahan was arrested in 2007 for several months, where in later years, several twitter pages of Saudi human rights activist were blocked. This caused the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information to announce a regulation in early 2010 stating that all Internet publishing sites must obtain a license, permitting the Ministry to treat websites the same way they treat newspapers.
Ironically, when the uprisings swept the Arab world, some Saudis tried to organise similar events in Saudi Arabia with no success due to the lack of participation. Many experts speculated the reasons behind this, where the content was not an attributable cause as most Saudis believe the use of the Internet to deal with national problems an inappropriate method of resolving issues5.
On the other hand, Saudis actively used social media to demand national reforms, fight corruption and critique current local events. Examples of such uses would be the extensive use of the hash tag in Twitter to discuss local matters within hours of it occurrence. Some of these hash tags were directed to the king himself, or members of the royal family. Other topics included women driving and voting rights, arresting activist, strict opinions of religious scholars, living expenses, and most of all the Ministry of Culture and Information latest web publishing regulation.
Many young Saudi stand-up comedians were "discovered" in new media, where they used YouTube as a type of sacred haven to communicate their message and demands of national reforms in an entertaining way. YouTube and other social media networks enabled them to interact with their subscribers and discuss local issues of high importance to them.
3.0 Looking to the future
New media has elevated the level of speech freedom and enabled the Arab nation to work in very organised groups, transforming their thoughts and voices into action, as well as in a civilised manner. New media, in certain circumstances, allowed the citizens to outset presidents6, however it is too early to state that social media was the sole cause behind the success of the Arab uprisings. Furthermore, it is not possible to predict whether social media will maintain the same level of freedom and reliability in the future. When referring to the authorities' response to the London riots, their ability to monitor, censor or ban social media certainly raises the question of how the Arab governments will act in the future if the uprisings continue.
4.0 References
5.0 Further reading
- The truth about Twitter, Facebook and the uprisings in the Arab world: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/25/twitter-facebook-uprisings-arab-libya
- Social Media Help Keep the Door Open to Sustained Dissent Inside Saudi Arabia: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/world/middleeast/16saudi.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
- Are social media users in the Arab world different?: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/23274
- Impact of Internet Usage in Saudi Arabia: A Social Perspective: http://www.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/~sadiq/research/journals-pdf/J_Sait.IJITWE.Dec.2006.pdf
- New and Old Media Access and Ownership in the Arab World: http://gaz.sagepub.com/content/61/1/59.full.pdf+html
- Religious Authority and the New Media: http://tcs.sagepub.com/content/24/2/117.full.pdf+html
1. Wheeler, Deborah. 2004. "The Internet in the Arab World: Digital Divides and Cultural Connections" Accessed September 21, 2011. http://www.riifs.org/guest/lecture_text/Internet_n_arabworld_all_txt.htm.