Digital-Age Actors and Challenges

Social media's role in political mobilization, first widely noted during the Arab Spring, has continued to evolve, extending to movements such as Hong Kong's 2019 pro-democracy protests and Iran's 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, where platforms such as Telegram and Instagram helped organize demonstrations and circulate footage despite government efforts at internet shutdowns and censorship.