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Volume 5, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2632-5853
  • E-ISSN: 2632-5861

Abstract

The Ethiopian government has been struggling to regulate online content due to the decentralized nature of the internet. However, during protests, Ethiopians used information and communication technologies (ICTs) to organize grassroots political movements, ultimately leading to significant government reforms in April 2018. Despite this progress, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been used to spread false information campaigns, targeting young, educated and tech-savvy Ethiopians who have used social media to become political players and grassroots activists, with positive and negative results. One such instance was on 23 October 2019, when Jawar Mohammed, a US political activist of Ethiopian origin, posted on Facebook to his over 1.76 million followers that Ethiopian security forces were plotting to attack him. This caused violent protests by his supporters, leading to the deaths of 86 Ethiopians. The Ethiopian cabinet drafted a law against online hate speech on 9 November to address the situation. To investigate the impact of social media activism on democracy in Ethiopia, this article analysed the Facebook posts of three Ethiopian activists residing in the American Diaspora from 23 October to 9 November 2019. The study employed Treem et al.’s three-dimensional framework for a theory of communication visibility and Van Dijk and Hacker’s definition of digital democracy as theoretical frameworks. Based on the research, social media activism has complex dynamics on democracy in Ethiopia, and it has become clear that misinformation and hate speech can quickly spread through social media, leading to devastating consequences. Therefore, we recommend that policy-makers form and implement comprehensive and effective policies to tackle online hate speech and ensure that social media platforms are not used to spread misinformation. By analysing media frames activists use, policy-makers can develop targeted interventions to help mitigate social media activism’s impact on Ethiopians.

© 2024 Intellect Ltd
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2025-03-05
2026-04-22

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/content/journals/10.1386/gdm_00045_1
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Making dissent visible through Facebook activism: The tale of three diasporan Ethiopians
Journal of Global Diaspora & Media 5, 97 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/gdm_00045_1
/content/journals/10.1386/gdm_00045_1
/content/journals/10.1386/gdm_00045_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): communication visibility; computer-assisted communication; diasporan media; digital democracy; Ethiopian protests; opinion conformity; social media activism

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