Social movement and Justice
through Twitter Campaign in India
Ayushmaan DATTA
MAMM 2019-2021
A2000419008
Abstract
I
undertook this study on the social movement and justice through Twitter
campaign in India as it has been observed that in recent times several social
movements were created, took birth, advanced and was spearheaded on
Twitter. These online movements created
quite a stir on social media as Twitter provided these movements with a fertile
ground to strengthen and expand.
After
reviewing the available literature I found there exist several stand-alone
write-ups/articles on specific movements and incidents/events. Also, a lot of
these studies were incident-specific but there was no comprehensive report
which reviewed several social movements over the years and their growth and
expansion on Twitter. A lot of these existing studies are more focused on
international movements rather than India-specific. My aim through this study
is to find out and summarize a few social movements that have occurred in India
and their escalation and advancement through Twitter.
Aim:
Through this study I aim to prove how Twitter has emerged as the leading social
media platform in advancing social commentary and providing a forum for the
‘mango people’ to express their
emotions/hurt/anger/angst/disappointment/empathy/compassion/solidarity/support
towards movements which garnered nationwide attention. Judiciary, policy
makers, government officials, law- makers, ministers – they were all under the
spotlight and they were pushed/co-erced/driven to take remedial measures to
pacify the populace.
Methodology
: Use of case studies, event analysis and in-depth interviews were undertaken.
Analysis was done both at the micro and macro level. Both qualitative and
quantitative study was conducted.
Findings
: The main findings of this study were that over the years Twitter has emerged
as the main platform for the birth/creation of social movements, how the
movements grow and expand and find international coverage. 1.75 crore users
have added to the significance of Twitter and are proof of its growing
importance. Hashtag activism has gained in popularity and a lot of the common
people get influenced by the tweets of prominent people such as journalists,
actors, leaders of political parties, news anchors, cricketers, govt ministries
etc.
Conclusions and Implications:
Twitter is now a force to reckon with and is here to stay. It has now emerged
as an important tool for information, social propaganda for promotion of a
cause, for both general populace as well for the people in power. It is an important instrument for bringing
about social change and justice. It helps the cause to get a wider platform
both at the national and international level. The powers that be have to
expedite the process of imparting justice and bring a closure to the protest or
the cause. It has given women/other downtrodden or oppressed a platform to
express their emotions, hurt, anger and also to get a fair redressal.
Acknowledgements
I would like to
acknowledge the guidance and support of Dr Ruhi Lal – Assistant Professor at
Amity School of Communication. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to
Dr Lal for giving me an opportunity to do research and providing invaluable
supervision throughout this research. The writing of this dissertation has been one of the most significant academic
challenges I have faced and without the support, guidance of the people
involved this task would not have been completed. She taught me the methodology
to carry out the research and to present the research works as clearly as
possible. It was a great privilege and honor to study and work under her
guidance. I am deeply indebted to her for her invaluable help in preparing this
dissertation. Her keen interest and encouragement were a great help throughout
the course of this research work.
Introduction
With
recent advancements in technology and communication, the course and
characteristics of social movements have been transformed. Today, social media
has become a lifeline connecting citizens, activists, governmental and
non-governmental actors worldwide. It has revolutionized the face of social
events and uprisings in our society. Hence, this exploratory study will analyze
the use of Twitter during the course of several movements. There have been
various movements which have been promoted successfully on Twitter such as
outrage against the Delhi gangrape, Pinjra Todd movement and more recently, the
protests against the farmers bills. Twitter users send short messages called
tweets which are read by other twitter users. The Delhi gangrape protests make
a case study to analyze the use of Twitter during the movement because for the
1st time in India communication technologies (ICT) environment,
Twitter was used extensively during major protests allowing a small but growing
part of the Indian public to transform India’s public sphere. (Ahmed, Saifuddin 2013). Since social movements often lack dedicated
communication structures, Twitter’s features work well to share messages with
thousands of people who comprise both offline and online audience. Social media
users engage in hashtag activism through discussing views on political and
social issues promoting social actions for example protests.
Social
media is often criticized as mere desktop activism where citizens try to change
the world with mouse clicks while engaging very little with “on the ground’’
social movements. On the other hand, some laud social media as a necessary and
effective tool for promoting change, even social revolution. In particular,
Twitter a social media platform has proven very effective in social activism.
In modern democracies, citizens are deluged with media content from a variety
of sources. Long standing traditional media such as newspapers, television,
radio continue to be influential sources of news and information. Further, cable
and satellite television allow viewers to choose among multiple channels with
varying content. Social media has become yet another source of information. It
is distinctive, in that it works primarily via social networks or because of
individual interest in a particular subject matter. When there are so many
competing media sources, the scarcest resource is attention. However, social
movements need attention in order to sustain and grow. Though social movements still need newspapers,
television and radio to draw attention to their message, however, they now have
capacity to counter the dominant media narratives. Social media, and twitter in
particular allow social movements to draw attention and to engage in multiple
audiences. (Buente, Wayne 2017)
Ø Aim:
To explore and analyze broadly how social movement and justice has taken place
through the use of twitter for spearheading and leading powerful social
movements.
Ø Rationale :
In recent times, it has been observed that Twitter had a major role to play in
shaping public opinion. It has also caught the attention of the highest levels
in the government and policy makers in the government. Several domestic issues
were catapulted on the international stage because of tweets by international
celebrities.
Ø Objective:
To analyze the following social movements which have trended on Twitter such as:
Nirbhaya rape case, elections of 2014 and the rise of AAP, MeToo movement,
Disha Ravi toolkit case Sushant Singh Rajput death case and more recently Farmer’s
protest against the farm bills. To understand the efficacy and reach of Twitter
and the profile of the audience it targets. To measure the audience engagement
and participation.
Ø Hypothesis:
Among the current social media platforms, Twitter has emerged as the most
powerful, effective and credible platform for social movements.
Social
media platform Twitter has played a central role in the farmer’s protests going
global. Pop star Rihanna’s 50 character tweet about the ongoing farmer’s
protest in India drew international support for the agitation, inspiring other
prominent personalities including teen activist Greta Thunberg and Mia Khalifa
to tweet about the cause. On 2 Feb 2021, Rihanna had tweeted ‘Why aren’t we
talking about this? #Farmers Protest’ This tweet spiked the searches for
farmer’s protests in India on the micro-blogging site Twitter thus bringing the
agitation to the world stage. The farm protests captured global attention and
many other international figures tweeted their solidarity with the protests. We
can gauge the importance of this social media platform by the reaction in the
corridors of power in India. The ministry of external affairs (MEA) issued a
statement responding to this tweet, blaming vested interest groups and
underlining the need to see protests within the framework of India’s democracy.
This is indeed rare and unusual because the government usually ignores comments
from non-state actors.
Social
media tools, especially Twitter have given the protesters an edge in reaching
supporters globally. (Zia Haq, 2021)
The effects have been felt all over the world. Cities where demonstrations were
held include global financial hubs like New York, Sydney, London. Protests were
organized in other overseas cities including Leicester in the UK, Sacramento,
Texas, Melbourne in Australia and Ontario in Canada.
The
farmer’s movement gained speed and was energized by global tweets by foreign
celebrities several actors, activists, influencers, lawmakers etc and the
protests against the contentious farm laws snowballed and attracted attention
around the world. The government of India was forced to acknowledge the
intricate ways in which domestic developments intersect with global politics
specially when social media (twitter) has disproportionate power. Rihanna with
over 100 million twitter followers, was not cowed down by trolls or any fears
of falling sales of her music in India. US VP Kamala Harris’s niece Meena Harris also
tweeted against the farm laws saying that we should be outraged by India’s
internet shutdowns and para-military violence against farmer protesters. On the
other hand the hashtags #Indiatogether and #Indiagainstpropaganda that MEA used
in its statement were trending in India.
Indian
celebrities engaged in ‘collusive tweeting’ to support the Indian government in
response to the criticism of the government’s handling of farmers protests.
An
expert committee has recommended that ‘hashtag’ trends on Twitter may be
treated as political advertisements during the election process and subjected
to the Election Comission’s media certification and monitoring committee
regulations. (Chunduru, Aditya 2021)
The panel also called for the creation for a separate social media monitoring
cell in the district election officer’s office to track political
advertisements on the social media and report them to the expenditure observer.
According to sources, the EC has accepted the recommendations. The panel added
that with Facebook, Google and Twitter publishing the ad spend and the total
views of the video ads, a rough estimate of political campaigns can be
calculated.
According to a
government of India press release, the IT secretary of the govt expressed strong
displeasure over the way Twitter acted after an emergency blocking order was
issued to remove the farmer genocide hashtag and content associated with that.
Spreading
misinformation using an incendiary and baseless hashtag referring to farmer
genocide at a time when such irresponsible content can provoke and inflame the
situation is neither journalistic freedom nor freedom of expression as
envisaged by Article 19 of the Constitution of India. Despite the attention of
Twitter being drawn to such content by the Government through a lawful process,
the platform allowed the content with this hashtag to continue which is
extremely unfortunate. The Cabinet Secretary also expressed his deep
disappointment to Twitter leadership about the manner in which Twitter has
unwillingly, grudgingly and with great delay complied with substantial parts of
the order. (PIB Delhi, 2021) For its part, the Twitter leadership which
included Monique Meche, Vice President Global Public Policy, and Jim Baker,
Deputy General Counsel and Vice President Legal – affirmed its commitment
towards following Indian laws and rules.
The
executives, according to a press release, also expressed their continuing
commitment towards building their services in India and requested for better
engagement between the Centre and Twitter’s global team.
The
conclusion to be drawn from the above-mentioned events and happenings is that
Twitter has gained in importance not only in shaping policies but also in
spearheading social causes especially in the farmer’s movement. Twitter allowed
prominent personalities to express unfiltered and explicit opinions and its
effects were widespread.
We
now take a closer look at some of hashtag movements which gained traction on
Twitter :
#MeToo
This
two word hashtag campaign spread like wildfire throughout the globe to give
rise to a mass level movement worldwide.
Originally
created by Tarana Burke, the movement gained traction with actress Alyss
Milano’s tweet on October 15 2017 which told women who have been sexually
harassed or assaulted to write ‘Me Too’
as a status. The hashtag became viral and has been used by and shared 4.3
million times all over the world.
#NirbhayaCase
Delhi’s
Nirbhaya gang rape case became a pivotal turning point for India’s feminist movement.
This case sparked a monumental movement known as Nirbhaya Movement. In the Nirbhaya case many Twitter users
did express violent ideation about what the perpetrators deserved.
Hashtags such as #inhumanebastards or #death4rape indicated how rage and desire
for retribution may have also been an important part of online discourse at the
time.
In
the current scenario of ubiquitous social media and Twitter revolutions, our
knowledge about connections between emotions and online protests is still
limited. In a study it was examined whether online protest actions follow the
same emotional groundwork for supporting and nurturing a social movement as in
the offline world and also it was studied how these emotions vary across
various stages of the social movement. Through a computer assisted emotional
analysis of 65,613 twitter posts, posted during the Nirbhaya social movement in
India – a strong resemblance between online emotional patterns and offline
protests was identified. Statistical testing of a range of emotions
(negativity, positivity, anger, sadness, anxiety, individualism, collectivism)
demonstrates that they majorly differed across stages of social movement. As
such, they influenced the course of the online protests and parallels were seen
with offline events.
#SushantSinghRajputCase
The
death of the former television star came as a major blow to the film and
television industry. Twitter was abuzz with tweets about the depression he
faced and the nepotism which is increasingly prevalent in the media industry
which favors star kids over outsiders. #BreakthesilenceforSushant was trending
on Twitter as his fans believed that his death was a planned crime and did not
believe that he committed suicide.
#Farmer’s protests
Now
we take A look at the most tweeted about categories and hashtags in the
following categories :
Virat
Kohli’s tweet announcing Anushka Sharma’s pregnancy was the most liked tweet of
the year.
COVID
19 was the most tweeted about current affairs topic whereas #StudentLivesMatter
was the most tweeted about people’s movement. This shows that people seek
information on current topics.
The
most used emoji in 2020 was the laughing emoji and #DilBechara was the most
tweeted movie hashtag after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
Actor
Amitabh Bachchan’s tweet sharing his news of becoming covid-19 positive was the
most quoted tweet of 2020. According to
twitter officials, those people that quote tweeted his tweet wished him a
speedy recovery and encouraged people to stay safe, wash their hands, and wear
their masks.
In
the case of the farmer’s protest movement in India, climate activist Greta
Thunberg and adult star Mia Khalifa tweeted on #FarmersProtest.
The
hashtag became an overnight rage in India. There was a subsequent outpouring of
global support which forced the centre to up its Twitter game prompting the
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava to tweet a
statement detailing the benefits of the farm laws, how vested interested are at
work and about the Republic Day violence in Delhi.
The
Statement read that before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge
that the facts of the matter should be ascertained and a proper understanding
of the issues at hand needs to be undertaken. Using sensationalist social media
hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others is
neither accurate nor responsible.
A
lot of celebrities and other social media users carried the hashtags forward
asking India to remain united and not fall prey to propaganda, while commenting
that the farmers constitute an essential part of the country. Subsequently the
hashtag #IndiawithModi also started going viral on Twitter.
In
the Disha Ravi case,
In the present case, the toolkit became an accidental
disclosure when Greta Thunberg on February 5 shared a Google document, a
“toolkit, inadvertently. She deleted the tweet later, but it became a headline.
The toolkit tried to “explain the farmers’ protests”
against the Narendra Modi government on the Delhi borders over the farm laws
passed by Parliament in 2020. Disha Ravi’s role figured in the probe, the Delhi
police said, as an “Editor of the Toolkit Google Doc”. She was accused of being
a “key conspirator” for preparing and sharing the document. Disha Ravi,
according to the Delhi police, shared the toolkit with Greta Thunberg. Delhi
police cyber cell arrested Disha Ravi and she remained in police custody for 5
days. Thousands used the hashtag #DishaRavi and #FreeDishaRavi and tweeted
protesting against a 21 year old environment activists arrest. (Sharma, Sumit 2021) The court termed
the evidence produced by police as ‘scanty and sketchy’ and granted bail to
her. One simple tweet by a climate activist shook the corridors of power in New
Delhi and the case hogged headlines for more than a week. After she was released,
she wrote about her ordeal in a series of posts on Twitter.
MS Dhoni’s
retirement
Another social movement which garnered a lot of praise was
MS Dhoni expressing gratitude to PM Narendra Modi’s letter. Dhoni shared his
gratitude on Twitter, thanking PM Narendra Modi for sending him a letter that
appreciated his achievements and contribution to cricket in India. Dhoni
announced his retirement from Indian cricket this year. He quoted ‘ An Artist,
solider, and sportsperson what they crave for is appreciation, that their hard
work and sacrifice is getting noticed and appreciated by everyone’. Thanks PM
@NarendraModi for your appreciation and good wishes. There was an outpouring of
love, emotions, gratitude for the small town boy who had made it to the big
league and given others the power to dream and brought laurels to Indian
cricket. Twitter was flooded with some of loveliest messages and people
showered their love on their favorite cricketing icon. The tweets show how much
of an impact he had on the lives of the masses. A lot of his fans paid rich
tributes to him on social media such as ‘legends never really retire, they only
inspire’ & ‘farewell captain’ & MS Dhoni thank you for being my rock
for Indian cricket all these years’ (Adhikari, Somak 2020 https://www.indiatimes.com/sports/22-emotional-tweets-on-ms-dhonis-retirement-which-show-how-much-captain-cool-means-to-the-fans-520429.html)
Ratan Tata Tweet
on Covid-19
The most retweeted tweet in the business world was by Ratan
Tata, who pledged support to communities affected by COVID-19. The current situation in India and across the
world is of grave concern. He tweeted that in this exceptionally difficult
period, he believed that urgent resources need to be deployed to cope with the
needs of fighting the covid-19 crisis, which is one of the toughest challenges
which the human race will face. From upgrading existing infrastructure to
distributing PPE, feeding the helpless & building a pan-India community
outreach, Tata Trusts has been in hyperdrive with its contribution in
containing the pandemic.
Hathras rape case
#HathrasHorrorShocksIndia
trends on Twitter.
#ShameonYouHathrasPolice
#ShameonYogi are some of the hashtags which were
trending on Twitter. The incidents sparked a discussion on social media about
caste violence against women with many feeling enraged and disgusted. Some
celebrities like Akshay Kumar, Farhan Akhtar, tweeted that it was a sad sad
day, Riteish Deshmukh tweeted that the culprits of this brutality and horrific
crime should be hanged in public. Huma Quereshi and Urmila Mantodkar. Twitter
became the most significant platform. People expressed their outrage and angst
on this platform and demanded justice for the victim. #justiceforHathras victim
became the trending hashtag.
The
expansive reach of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
has created an ever-breathing space for exchange of opinions and information
and active mobilization for socio-political protest movements, thrusting life
and voice into the fence-sitters who choose not to associate with these
movements actively and physically. (Gangwal,
Riya 2021 https://feminisminindia.com/2021/03/04/hashtag-social-media-activism/)
The digital space has also ensured that
dissenting voices will never die out, irrespective of the power structure that
is stifling it. The pace and convenience with which information relayed over
social media, with its enormous consumer base harking to make their presence
worthy and noticeable, protestors and activisits are legimately able to achieve
what disruptive protests eventually aims at – calling attention to their cause
and making themselves heard.
However,
we must not get carried away by how movements are carried over on these
platforms as the underlying fact is that regardless of its reach and
convenience, social media is limited in its access for people. The restricted
access social media confirms that these voices might never find a space in the
conversations that thrive here, and hence these conversations remain famished
of the first-hand accounts of what protestors actually demand. This further
opens up avenues for maligning the cause of the movement and misplacing the
context of the demands of the protestors.
Recent Incidents (#Metoo)
In
the recent incident involving the alleged assault made on the Zomato delivery
executive by a Bengaluru, many Bollywood celebrities came forward to show their
support. Some of the following are :
Parineeti
Chopra tweeted to Zomato urging Zomato to please find and publicly report the
truth. She believed that the gentleman was innocent and urged Zomato to please
find out the truth of the matter as the matter was inhuman, shameful and
heartbreaking. She said that if the man has been framed for no reason, the
woman who did this, needs to pay for his pain. Zomato
founder Deepinder Goyal also issued a statement on the incident. In a detailed
note, Deepinder Goyal said, "Our topmost priority has been to get to the
truth. Towards that, we are helping both Hitesha and Kamaraj (our delivery
partner) with all the support they need while the investigation is
pending." He also said that Zomato is covering all medical expenses of the
Bengaluru woman while also helping the delivery person with his incomes and
legal expenses. The Zomato founder also pointed out that the concerned delivery
person has been one of the highest rate delivery executives with over 5,000
deliveries. He mentioned that it wasn't an opinion but just facts. (Pallavi, Priya Krishna 2021)
It was a watershed moment for India’s MeToo movement on February
17, 2021 when a Delhi court acquitted journalist Priya Ramani in a defamation
case against her by former minister MJ Akbar whom she had accused of sexual
harassment and misconduct in 2018. The Delhi court stressed that women cannot
be punished for raising their voice against sexual abuse. The verdict was
hailed as a big victory for the #MeToo movement.
Questionnaire & Survey
I
undertook a survey amongst 500 people in Delhi NCR ranging from 15-65 years to
find out the role that Twitter plays in shaping their opinions and garnering
support in a current social movement. The survey aimed at understanding how
social media users utilized Twitter during social movements and how Twitter
helped in hash tag activism on relevant political and social issues. I conducted online focus groups for the
purpose of collecting qualitative data. I conducted the focus groups as follows
:
· Firstly,
I determined the topic and goals of the focus group
· Then,
I identified potential participants
· I
conducted a 90-120 minute session lead by a trained moderator
· I
scheduled the time, place and duration of the discussion online to let the
members know in advance so that they can plan accordingly via Zoom meetings and
CISCO Webex.
Focus
groups are common in situations such as the initial stages of a research study,
while creating a plan of action during research and after the completion of the
study to establish results.
Q1)
Do you regularly follow celebrities/actors/prominent people on Twitter?
(Yes/No)
Yes 67%’
No
33%
It
is noted that a majority of people do follow celebrities on Twitter for their
opinion thus proving that celebrities have the capacity to attract public
attention and mobilize public engagement in social causes. They may also serve
as role models for some individuals.
Q2)
Do you retweet/quote tweet celebrities
and social media influencers especially in case of events which may seem
controversial? (Yes/No)
Yes
: 82 %
No
: 18 %
It
is noted that the majority of Twitter users – they do retweet/quote tweet
celebrities and social media influencers thus shaping up the communication
dynamics of social protests and causes. Retweets have led to successful
mobilization of social movements – example farmers protest, zomato delivery boy
incident.
Q3)
Do you actively use hash tags/twitter trends? (Yes/No)
Yes
– 82%
No
– 18%
It
is noted that maximum respondents do use hashtags/twitter trends. Renowned
people use hashtags for spreading agendas to the masses. Everyday a new set of
hashtags are added. People now actively use hashtags to speak about social
issues.
Q4)
Do you think international celebrities’ tweets on domestic/national issues are
irresponsible? (Yes/No)
Ans
4)
Yes
– 45%
No
– 55%
The
Indian government slammed foreign celebrities for tweeting in support of
protesting farmers in India. The MEA felt that international celebrities
Rihanna and Greta Thunbergs tweets were inaccurate and irresponsible and vested
interest groups were trying to build an opinion against the country. However,
according to my survey, more than 50% felt that international celebrities
tweeting about domestic issues were not irresponsible. Though celebrities like
Sachin Tendulkar and Akshay Kumar agreed with the Indian government that
foreign celebrities should not be commenting on the agitation in India yet
according to my survey more than half were okay with the agitation getting an
international voice.
Q5)
Do you get influenced or form opinions about political/social events by reading
tweets by senior journalists/news websites/politicians? (Yes/No)
Yes – 82 %
No
- 18 %
It
is noted that most people are easily influenced by the words of
journalists/politicians etc. Many twitter users receive their news on news
sites and as such twitter has revolutionized the newsrooms. What earlier used
to take a few days now reaches the public in real time – tweet after tweet.
Twitter provides real-time information, reactions and public opinion during
breaking stories. The survey rightly reveals that the public relies heavily on
news websites and journalists- thus they wheeled a massive influence as it is a
direct communication channel between influencers and twitter users. Because of
twitter’s accessibility – it has become very easy for a community or group to
rally around a cause or an idea.
Q6)
Do you think Twitter is more powerful in shaping public opinion than other
social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, News websites etc?
(Yes/No)
Ans
6)
Yes
– 80
No
– 20
Twitter
is definitely more powerful in influencing large number of people around the
world. Right from Obama to Modi – politicians increasingly use Twitter for
political diplomacy. Twitter has become an important channel for political and
social activities. It is a popular medium for channeling information and is
used widely by individuals, politicians and organizations.
Q7)
Do you use Twitter for getting updates on local issues like residential colony
matters, educational instuition issues, company matters events? (Yes/No)
Yes
– 75%
No
– 25%
It
is noted that most twitter users use the micro-blogging site for updating
themselves on local issues. People do
refer to twitter for updates on local issues as it is a great place to meet
people, share ideas and learn new things. Twitter is fast and it is a
personalized source of news.
Twitter
can send messages very quickly and can send instant updates and writers can
tweet live during news events. Twitter is the least time consuming of the
social networks thus it is a great place for writers to share tidbits and
behind the scenes anecdotes as only 180 characters are allowed.
Q8)
Is your political idealogy influenced by tweets by political leaders /outfits/IT
cells promoting their idealogy/beliefs/principles? (Yes/No)
Ans
8)
Yes 62%
No
38%
Twitter
has shown to be very influential on political discourse and has caused major
changes in how people engage politically. Followers regularly take actions that
are requested in leader’s tweets and often leaders tweet shape followers tweets
more than friends and family. It is also seen that candidates who used twitter
using election campaigns during election campaigns received more votes than
those who did not. It is infact an outlet for propagating political ideologies
and exerting influence.
Social
movements in India have utilized social media platforms to garner support and
to maintain coherent communication with their constituents. One such movement
is the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in India. The party grew out of an
anticorruption social movement. The unprecedented and rapid rise of the
political party was received with enthusiasm in the country, particularly among
the younger generation. (Greg B. Leichty,
Margaret U. D’Silva & Matthew R. Johns, 2016) On acquiring political
power, the Party continued to stay connected with its supporters through
Twitter and other social media platforms. While many TV outlets have eulogized
the AAP, several others have criticized them. The AAP utilized Twitter as one
of the channels to communicate with its constituents.
According
to Rishi Jaitly, Twitter’s head of operations, Twitter was transforming modes
of political organization and the daily practice of journalism related to
campaigns. (Greg B Leichty, Margaret U
D’Silva & Matthew R Jones 2016) Twitter trends are now available in
many Indian cities. The biggest sea change is that people now have an
unparalleled ability to make their own choices about what kind of information,
people and organizations they want to follow and have the ability to influence
and create media narratives with political parties with candidates, with news
organizations in an election context.
The content of the tweet was utilized to determine the orientation of
the hashtag. One finding in the initial perusal of the tweets and their
associated hashtags is that AAP used Twitter to directly appeal to its members
as a target audience.
On
multiple occasions the true hearted common person is exhorted to join AAP in
its fight to defeat corruption, as in this January 15 tweet, “All honest &
good people should come together to save this nation. “#UnitedWithAAP.” As
opposition to AAP’s administration begins to crystallize, citizens are warned
that they must maintain a unified front against those who are motivated to
disrupt this unity between the people and the party. The hashtag #AAPinAction
was attached to a December 30 tweet celebrating AAP’s campaign pledge to
provide a certain amount of free water to every household. (Greg B. Leichty, Margaret U. D’Silva & Matthew R. Johns 2016) The party’s bold declaration of very specific
promises and its emphasis on frenetic action communicated a very deep
impatience with the way things are and a rejection of counsel to take a
cautious and measured approach to introducing political and economic changes.
The use of Twitter by activists protesting
violence against women, particularly sexual violence, is complicated by the
fact that microblogging services use hashtags to identify relevant content to
their audiences. Activist communities congregate around these particular
keywords, and archives that map the history and morphology of controversies in
public discourse online depend on shared terminology in the metadata. It
is noteworthy that trending topics are particularly likely to reference proper
names. After a prominent fatal sexual attack in India, the mobilization
of activists through online organizing progressed through several stages, and
some users privileged #delhirapecase or delhigangrape – which protected the
private identity of the victim – while others made her into a public martyr by
using her proper #jyotisinghpandey. Many also used a series of
pseudonyms, such as #damini or #amanat. (Losh, Elizabeth 2014)
Working across multiple national political
contexts, some critics still cherish the model of collective
intelligence. Twitter has been more proactive about policing its platforms
in recent months taking down thousands of accounts linked to conspiracy theory.
Imagines that technology allows us to tap the resources of a “cognitive
surplus.”
Furthermore, as Nishant Shah asserts, access to
digitally networked social media services such as Twitter may also lead to
cybervigilanteeism. In the Nirbhaya case many Twitter users did express
violent ideation about what the perpetrators deserved. Hashtags such as
#inhumanebastards or #death4rape indicated how rage and desire for retribution
may have also been an important part of online discourse at the time.
Twitter
has always been prone to controversies. According to Sanjay Mehta, joint CEO,
Mirum – It is the nature of the medium which makes it vulnerable. (Shashi Gupta, 2019) That people can
express anything and everything in real time, across a variety of subjects,
including controversial ones, the medium will be prone to controversy. Twitter
has 1.75 crore followers in India – 34% female and 66% male. Twitter’s user
base is predicted to grow in future. People tweet on subjects of passion such
as politics, religion. Twitter gives the user the ability to disagree with
others and the ability to challenge right there and then which they may not do
in a face to face situation, ensures unending arguments and consequently
controversy.
The
importance and significance of Twitter in shaping and influencing public
opinion can very well be gauged from the fact that government had in (Feb 21)
issued a notice to twitter to comply with its order on removal of content
related to ‘farmer genocide’ alleging that the material was designed to spread
mis-information and to inflame passions and hatred. (Bhargava, Yuthika, 2021) The Twitter on the other hand believed
that open and free exchange of information had a positive global impact and
tweets must continue to flow. According to Pratik Gupta, co-founder Foxy Moron
– ‘As a platform – Twitter usually attracts politicians, journalists,
spokespersons of big political parties and lots of news channels as their basic
content creators. (Shashi Gupta, 2019)
Twitter has been under the scanner of the government for its content. The
government is advising the Twitter platform to monitor the content, however, it
is an uphill task given the sheer volume of content getting generated.
As
#MeToo movement brought women together all across the country couple of years
back – women took to social media specifically Twitter to share their harrowing
stories of sexual harassment, assault and even rape. Several women shared
anonymous accounts on Twitter. (Vijayata
Lalwani, 2021) There was a lot of resentment, anger and hurt and all this
culminated in encouraging more women to speak up. Social media was perhaps the only way for
many survivors to speak out. There was a journalist who said that after she
publicly shared her story of sexual harassment on twitter, she received
encouraging messages from several friends. She then further helped others to speak
out and expose the men. Thus, through twitter, the #MeToo movement picked up in
India. There were threatening messages from the perpetrators but yet hundreds
of stories were shared on twitter.
Though women were abused and trolled online yet there were many
supportive messaged which kept them going. The reach and impact of Twitter is quite deep.
Priya Ramani was acquitted in the defamation case filed against her by former
Union minister MJ Akbar. Twitter erupted with congratulatory messages for the
journalist. (Arun Bothra, 2021)
Methodology :
Both
qualitative and quantitative methods, use of case studies, in-depth interviews,
event analysis were used for the purpose of this study. The analysis was done
both at the macro and micro level. Micro level analysis included questions to
participants who use Twitter on what motivates them to tweet about their
opinions/protests/participations and also why they follow certain celebrities
or influencers. The study focused on attitudinal micro-level analysis. The
macro-level analysis was done to find out how movements shaped up on Twitter
what was the driving force behind them, how they began and advanced. Detailed
case study analysis was done for specific movements in India including the Me
Too movement, farmer’s protest, Nirbhaya case, Zomato Incident.
Conclusion and Implications:
Twitter
has emerged as the No. 1 platform for promoting social movements. The expansive
reach of Twitter has created an ever-breathing space for the exchange of
opinions and information and active mobilization for socio-political protest
movements. (Riya Gangwal, 2021) The
pace and convenience with which information is spread over twitter with its
enormous consumer base has enabled activists to call attention to their cause
and make themselves heard. This digital space has ensured that the
protesting/dissenting voice will always be heard irrespective of the efforts to
stifle it.
Twitter
adds to the momentum and reach of any social movement and cause. When prominent
public figures with massive social following talk about agitations and protests
it gives a momentum, push and strength to the cause.
Twitter
gives users the chance to share and discuss their views on an open forum. Over
time, it has given rise to a new opportunity to share news of social injustices
and asking users to unite in the face of inequality. (Vineet John Manuel, 2021) Twitter is being used to circulate acts of
discrimination (actual/perceived) to the masses in the hope of some sort of
justice through crowd support. When it
comes to activism twitter is instrumental in circulating information to vast
numbers of people for example getting details of a protest before millions in
just a few seconds by using the right keywords and hashtags.
The
social media/twitter mobilization has garnered steps in notable positive
change. Numerous closed cases have been re-opened and resolved example in the
Me-too movement. Many social causes such as the farmers movement would not have
gained so much support, awareness and following had it not been for the use of
twitter. (Dasgupta,Sravasti 2020)
The power of million of users worldwide standing in solidarity with each other
in shared passion is another level of potential for change altogether. Twitter
the micro-blogging platform has the potential to be a powerful advocacy and
community organizing tool. Hashtags are employed for twitter chats and also
help to reach a broader audience and have conversations about a particular
topic. Twitter is also a prominent tool for political parties to provide
information, mobilize their user base and connect to the public in an easier
manner.
References:
APA Style
· India
Today Web Desk (2021); Disha Ravi case : What has been the toolkit
that has brought activists under the lens? (https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/disha-ravi-case-what-is-a-toolkit-that-has-brought-activists-under-the-lens-1769523-2021-02-15)
· Elizabeth
Losh (2014); Hashtag feminism and
Twitter Activism in India (https://social-epistemology.com/2014/11/03/hashtag-feminism-and-twitter-activism-in-india-elizabeth-losh/)
· Krishna
Priya Pallavi (2021); Parineeti
Chopra supports delivery boy Kamaraj, urges Zomato to find the truth. (https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/parineeti-chopra-supports-delivery-boy-kamaraj-urges-zomato-to-find-the-truth-1779220-2021-03-14)
· Raya
Ghosh (2021); Mia Khalifa tweets in
support of farmers’ protest after Rihanna and Greta Thunberg. (https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/mia-khalifa-tweets-in-support-of-farmers-protest-after-rihanna-and-greta-thunberg-1765411-2021-02-03)
· ABP
News Bureau (2021); Kamala Harris’s
Niece Meena, Jay Sean, and Lilly Back Protesting Farmers post Rihanna’s Tweet. (https://news.abplive.com/news/kamala-harris-s-niece-meena-jay-sean-and-lilly-back-protesting-farmers-post-rihanna-s-tweet-1442355)
· Soibam
Rocky Singh (2021); MeToo: Delhi
Court acquits Priya Ramani in M.J. Akbar’s defamation case. (https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/metoo-delhi-court-quashes-mj-akbars-defamation-case-against-priya-ramani/article33860324.ece)
· Amit
Chaturvedi (2021); How IndiaTogether
became top trend after Rihanna’s tweet on farmer’s stir. (https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-indiatogether-became-top-trend-after-rihanna-s-tweet-on-farmers-stir-101612413131483.html)
· Sharma,
Rishabh; (2020) : https://blog.twitter.com/en_in/topics/events/2019/best-brands-of-twitter-2019.html
· Aravind,
Indulekha; (2018) https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/metoo-movement-women-call-out-their-past-tormentors-on-social-media/articleshow/66198396.cms?from=mdr
· Hashtag
Feminism and Twitter Activism in India; (2014)
https://social-epistemology.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/losh_sp3_p2.pdf
· Priya
Ramani’s Win may be small but is a ray of light; Gahlot, Deepa (2021) : https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/journalist-priya-ramanis-win-may-be-small-but-is-a-ray-of-light-nonetheless-writes-deepa-gahlot
· Krishna
Priya Pallavi (2021) https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/parineeti-chopra-supports-delivery-boy-kamaraj-urges-zomato-to-find-the-truth-1779220-2021-03-14
·
