Case Study 1
Middle East Bloggers: Overcoming Censorship

Before the presidential elections in June 2009, the Iranian government blocked a dozen social networking sites and online news sources perceived as favoring opposition candidates. SMS (Short Message Service) was disrupted and remained offline for weeks. And after the election, the government shut down mobile phone service for an entire day.

The government’s pre and post-election crackdown on digital communication illustrates the extent to which it views electronic discourse as a formidable threat to its grip on power. Bloggers were targeted and arrested. At least seven bloggers were among the several dozen journalists rounded up and jailed for their reporting and commentary.

Iranis at the forefront of online repression in the Middle East, combining old-school tactics such as detention and harassment with newer techniques such as online blocking and monitoring. It has also moved assertively to extend—and even expand—longstanding legal restrictions on print and broadcast journalism to online media.

The tactics used by Iranian authorities, while glaring, are being employed to various degrees throughout the region, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia,Tunisia to Syria. Governments in the region are using both new and time-tested strategies against online journalists, signaling that blogging has become a crucial front in the struggle for press freedom. [more]



Case Study 2
The Impact of Social Media on the 2009 Presidential Election Protests


When incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the 2009 presidential elections, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets to protest the outcome. The government deployed security forces to forcefully suppress the protests and also put in place measures to impede and censor all kinds of communications. Foreign journalists were not allowed to report on these events by the authorities, preventing people both in and out of the country from having an objective view on what was happening.

The Iranian people turned to social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to spread awareness of events and to also mobilize protestors. In the midst of this, many foreigners offered their help by hosting private proxy servers for Iranians to bypass government blockades. This case highlights the increasing difficulty that oppressive governments face in trying to crack down on a tech-savvy population. [more]