27 Politics, divisions and (mis)use of social media
27 Politics, divisions and (mis)use of social media
Mokhtar Elareshi, University of Tripoli
With increasing political divisions in Libya and ongoing civil war, social media websites and interactive media have been used to deepen the conflict and feed violence among Libyans. Political differences and disputes have been transferred from the real world to the virtual world and, in some cases, vice versa. The past four years have been a time of political upheaval and reform in Libya. The reasons for the changes are varied, but they include the high rate of unemployment among the youth and government corruption. However, the use of social media by anti- and pro-government groups alike has been widely publicised, to the extent that some commentators suggest that social media have been afforded too much credit for the political changes and reforms taking place in the country. Nevertheless, social media sites have become a critical outlet for describing and documenting attacks, coordinating protests and communicating information and news to local and non-local audiences.
The problem with social media use in Libya goes back to early 2011, when (anti-government) activists used sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to recruit young people against Gaddafi’s regime. This can be seen as a turning point in the history of Libyan media and in the relationships or social divisions between Libyans themselves. Some believe that these calls to action were somehow successful in changing the Libyan political landscape. However, since then, these social media platforms no longer play the same role ‘fairly’, as they have altered the way they use news and information and how they communicate with other users. Since the beginning of political pluralism and the emergence of dozens of Libyan parties and organisations, no one could predict how social media sites would become platforms for strife and polarisation, a way to carry out political purges, and a means to verbally abuse, insult and slander members of other parties or organisations. They have thus become a tool with which to threaten others and for the promotion of hatred and incitement to violence. Many Libyans’ pages on social media sites feature an abundance of hate speech and threats against other factions and divisions. In fact, every day, Libyan social media is filled with controversies, conflicts and rumours. This has increased discourses of insults and verbal abuse in the country’s political scene, reflecting the widely divergent political views and territorial conflicts taking place in Libya.
Libyans themselves have recently expressed regret about social media platforms having transformed from something which had great merit in supporting change in the country by means of uniting and serving Libyans’ shared goals into a cyber space which promotes chaos, fuels strife and targets individuals in political parties or from other tribes. Since the Libyan uprising in 2011, social media sites have teemed with s