Who let the trolls out? Towards understanding state-sponsored trolls

Recent evidence has emerged linking coordinated campaigns by state-sponsored actors to manipulate public opinion on the Web. Campaigns revolving around major political events are enacted via mission-focused ?trolls." While trolls are involved in spreading disinformation on social media, there is little understanding of how they operate, what type of content they disseminate, how their strategies evolve over time, and how they influence the Web's in- formation ecosystem. In this paper, we begin to address this gap by analyzing 10M posts by 5.5K Twitter and Reddit users identified as Russian and Iranian state-sponsored trolls. We compare the behavior of each group of state-sponsored trolls with a focus on how their strategies change over time, the different campaigns they embark on, and differences between the trolls operated by Russia and Iran. Among other things, we find: 1) that Russian trolls were pro-Trump while Iranian trolls were anti-Trump; 2) evidence that campaigns undertaken by such actors are influenced by real-world events; and 3) that the behavior of such actors is not consistent over time, hence detection is not straightforward. Using Hawkes Processes, we quantify the influence these accounts have on pushing URLs on four platforms: Twitter, Reddit, 4chan's Politically Incorrect board (/pol/), and Gab. In general, Russian trolls were more influential and efficient in pushing URLs to all the other platforms with the exception of /pol/ where Iranians were more influential. Finally, we release our source code to ensure the reproducibility of our results and to encourage other researchers to work on understanding other emerging kinds of state-sponsored troll accounts on Twitter.https://arxiv.org/pdf/1811.03130.pdfAccepted manuscrip

Social Media and Political Participation in Saudi\ud Arabia: The Case of the 2009 Floods in Jeddah

The aim of this study was to explore the use of social media for political participation in Saudi Arabia taking the case of the Jeddah 2009 floods as an example. Data were collected for this qualitative study between 2010 and 2012 and were analyzed with the help of NVivo, a software for qualitative data analysis. The study followed the principles of thematic analysis to analyze 40 posts and the readers’ comments on them from YouTube, Facebook, an online community, and Al Arabiya site. The findings of this study show that people used social media to express their feelings and emotions about the loss of lives, express their opinions about what happened and call for action about what should happen or organize themselves to take part in volunteer work. The results of this research contribute to an understanding of the role of social media in encouraging political\ud participation in countries where participation in public affairs in some cases is not encouraged and in others, for example, street protests is not permitted

The Impact of Social Media on Women’s Civic Engagement in Saudi Arabia: An Empirical and Critical Study of Saudi Women Councillors

This study explores the impact of social media on women’s civic engagement in Saudi Arabia. It investigates many issues related to Saudi society as democracy, civil society and human rights based on an empirical study of 20 elected women of the Municipal Election of 2015. This study was based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with the elected women, and on the NVivo data analysis program. On the one hand, the results of this study show the role played by the ruling family in improving the status of Saudi women through the enactment of various laws that provide them with education, employment and freedom of action. On the other hand, the study shows the many negative effects of traditional Saudi society, represented by traditional units such as the family and the tribe, in restricting the movement of women and discrimination against them. The study's interviews reveal that women focus on philanthropy in the Kingdom without mentioning political action, which reveals a conservative view by women of the nature of change in society, and indicates a very weak level of political awareness. This limited feminist vision, in turn, is reflected in their concept of social media. They perceive social media as a new tool that helps them acquire knowledge, conduct scientific research and communicate among themselves; yet they do not mention using social media to form active feminist groups in order to make real changes in their interests, and to help them gain more rights. On the positive side, the study shows that this conservative vision will change over time in the Kingdom in the light of the new openness of the ruling family and its support for Saudi women

The socio-political implications of social media participation and activism among young adults in Saudi Arabia.

In most democratic countries, citizens have access to several avenues to participate in and engage with political and social issues. However, in Saudi Arabia, there are only a few permissible forms of expressing opinions and venting frustrations. Therefore, unlike most democratic societies, where social media is primarily utilised to foster the traditional, offline means of exerting pressure on state agencies, social media is the principal platform for political participation and activism in Saudi Arabia. This thesis therefore aims to explore the political and social implications of social media participation and activism within an authoritarian environment. Although there is extensive scholarly agreement that social media has widened the scope of information, enhanced horizontal networks of communication, and expanded the space for freedom of expression, the nature of the socio-political context within an authoritarian environment can critically influence the way in which individuals engage with and participate in social and political issues online. Thus, the political potential of these platforms in a public sphere that is characterised as being extremely authoritarian, religious, and patriarchal requires further empirical investigations. This thesis also investigates, through a case study of the anti-male guardianship hashtag activism, how Saudi women have utilised Twitter’s ‘hashtag’ feature to promote their campaigns and fight for their rights. Based on 29 semi-structured interviews with activists and non-activists (aged between 20 and 35) and extensive fieldwork, this study will explore how Saudi young adults perceive the socio-political implications of social media for political participation and activism in Saudi Arabia. The literature pertaining to the political implications of social media is highly contradictory, with some studies emphasising its potential to serve as a space of autonomy and participation, while others emphasise its depoliticising nature. Making its own original contribution to this debate, my study shows how social media has played an unprecedented role in paving the way for Saudis to participate in socio-political issues, increase the level of transparency and accountability, expose wrongdoing, express opinions, and generate awareness. More critically, the findings introduce a model that demonstrates how the ‘socially connective function’ of social media can penetrate the dynamic of ‘ubiquitous preference falsification’ (characterising most societies living under authoritarian regimes) by encouraging the public disclosure of preferences. The findings also show how the anti-male guardianship hashtag activism functions as an ‘alternative space’ for geographically dispersed and affected women in Saudi Arabia to mobilise thousands of national and global opinions, frame male guardianship-related issues, and challenge the patriarchal and victim-blaming discourse dominating the Saudi public sphere. Finally, I argue that within an authoritarian context, social media can increase socio-political participation, but it does not essentially lead to the democratisation and pluralism of the online public sphere due to two critical reasons: the increasing adoption of sophisticated surveillance technologies by states and online trolls

Corroding consensus-building: how self-centered public diplomacy is damaging diplomacy and what can be done about it

Public diplomacy (PD) is an activity which has become central to the analysis of modern diplomacy. Yet while there are common definitions of PD widely used internationally, practice between states has come to diverge more and more. There is disagreement in the academic literature about what should be included in PD activities, the actors, and boundaries. But there is little analysis of the effects of PD on mainstream diplomacy. This paper, written by a diplomat and sometime practitioner of PD, argues that PD is losing its connection with wider diplomacy which is based on reciprocity and consensus-building. The digital revolution has enabled PD self-promotion which diminishes the necessity for diplomatic partnering. Global rivalries are played out daily for global publics with little room for quiet reflection and compromise. Such self-centered PD has immersed itself in the confusing and divisive nature of online engagement. While the Internet has brought massive benefits and opportunities to both diplomacy and PD, the consensus-building part of true diplomatic engagement is receding. The activities of ISIS and Russia were just the first major collective challenges to diplomacy through new PD techniques. In the past, diplomacy has responded to crises and conflicts and rebuilt its options. Now PD’s chaotic and troubling evolution needs a new response. This should include partners in the non-state sector and the owners of technology platforms. The article takes a practitioner’s perspective and proposes a forum where state and non-state experts could discuss appropriate collective responses by diplomacy so it can reassert options available for consensus-building.Accepted manuscrip

The Quality of Political Deliberation on Twitter

This thesis explores how Twitter users discuss political issues in Saudi Arabia and how social and religious values impact on the quality of deliberation. Its three case studies are: women’s political participation; the housing shortage in Saudi Arabia; and unlawful use of public property. Based on the analyses of 12,093 tweets and 27 interviews with Twitter users in Saudi Arabia, this thesis argues that public debate is rational, respectful, focused and diverse. Both men and women participate in and exchange a range of attitudes towards government decisions. There is evidence to suggest that Twitter users criticise and challenge officials, clerics and established social values. Based on these findings, this thesis suggests that public deliberation about sensitive issues in Saudi society corresponds with key elements of public deliberation as it is envisioned in Western theories of citizen engagement in the public sphere. Some Twitter users perceive this kind of participation as an act of good citizenship. The analysis of tweets and interviews in this study demonstrate Twitter users’ sense of connectedness towards their society and fellow citizens. On the other hand, the results also confirmed that the quality of political deliberation is impacted on by government censorship, Twitter users’ self-censorship and social and religious values

SPEAKING FROM BEHIND THE VEIL: Khaleeji Women’s Political and Social Participation through Social Media

With the infiltration of information technology in Arab households a unique phenomenon has been observed in the recent years. Women have learned that through the use of information technology for participating in social networks they can become socially and politically active while staying within the boundaries of their household. Facebook and Twitter have come out as two of the most often used social networking applications. Through the use of social media Khaleeji women have also succeeded in increasing awareness about their rights, and the need to bring about certain social and political changes. This study employs a qualitative research approach to exploring the research questions. Two data gathering methods are used: a) in-depth personal interviews, and b) sample of social media content. The data is qualitatively analyzed. The method of qualitative analysis is also utilized to answer the research questions. The study has relevance to the fields of mass communication, social change, use of information technology, and social demographics in the GCC region. This study is unique in the sense that for the first time the role of Twitter in bringing about social and political change by Khaleeji women has been explored within the dimensions of academic research

Tourist Responses to Tourism Experiences in Saudi Arabia

A decade ago, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was not perceived to be a popular tourism destination except for religious purposes, the government of KSA has been proactive in recent years building new destinations, changing longstanding policies, focusing on tourism and hospitality education, and renovating its image to attract domestic and international tourists. Tourism contributed to almost 9% of the Kingdom’s GDP in 2018, around 65 billion dollars (WTTC, 2019). The purpose of this paper is to understand the sentiment that tourists have regarding the new tourism campaigns in KSA, to have transparent feedback about the experiences and services mostly adopted by tourists, and to study the feasibility of KSA Vision 2030 regarding the tourism sector. This study will perform an open data analysis by extracting and analyzing data from a well-known online source (Twitter). Results will highlight the utilization of online data tools to measure tourism trends

Using activity theory to understand the impact of social networking sites and apps use by Saudi postgraduate students

Social networking sites and apps (SNSAs) are being used more frequently across the world and yet the nature of this online environment and associated interactions are not fully understood. With no restrictions for SNSAs use related to specific geographical regions, language, age, gender, educational level, or any other factors, it is important to find a concept to describe and explain the components of this online environment and their relationships. This paper describes the environment of SNSAs use by Saudi postgraduate students from the perspective of second-generation activity theory (AT). The findings supported the theoretical framework of AT as a useful lens in understanding SNSAs use from the perspective of students, particularly in a cultural environment where physical communication has restrictions based on gender. A similar AT model can be drawn for the use of SNSAs, taking the perspective of different groups of academic users. The flexibility of the AT model appears at the level of SNSAs as technical and physical tools, and at the level of users’ community, which was managed by the explicit and implicit rules relating to communication. This feature reveals the way in which this extended framework can be used to indicate pertinent features of SNSAs. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group