Social media and technology might work as a catalyst for an uprising just like the one in Belarus or a revolution like that of Ukraine. But it's also wont to scare people from speaking up and exercising other civil liberties.
Social media and technologies empower and encourage people to talk up. due to the Belarus internet shutdown during the presidential elections almost a month ago, variety of Telegram users within the country grew from 400,000 to quite 2 million. Telegram managed to supply service during those days when there was no internet connection within the country.
In 2014, we saw the increase of online media during Ukraine’s Euromaidan revolution. It gained popularity by streaming the events, which meant providing an information source that was alternative to state media which was silent about the revolution.
However, authoritarian regimes deploy an equivalent technologies because the protestors do, and manage to fool people into believing hoaxes or scaring them off joining the anti-government movements. There are numerous examples.
Belarus faked an app
With Aleksandr Lukashenko holding power in Belarus for 26 years, why only now did people burst into protests? Maksimas Milta, Head of Communication and Development Unit at European Humanities University, said that 10 years ago, not many Belarusians had smartphones, and while the web was widespread, there was no possibility to stream anything live. Now, as technology has become more accessible, and other people more tech savvy, it’s much harder to withhold important information from them, and far easier to attach . Even when there’s no internet.
“The clamp down on the web was instrumental in making an enormous breakthrough to most of the people here in Belarus in learning about VPN, what it means to use proxy connection, and it's given an enormous influence for the Telegram messenger,” Maksimas Milta said during a discussion during a GovTech Week_.
The Nexta channel on Telegram is now the most source of data about the protests and therefore the wrongdoings of OMON for Belarusians.
So it comes as no surprise that somebody sympathizing with the regime mimicked the Nexta channel and created an app to gather data about the protestors who downloaded the app. Nexta founders warned to not install the app under any circumstances, and Google removed the app from its Play Store.
What is more, by shutting down the web , the Belarus government made it hard for people to download VPNs. But it seems, a minimum of from what Maksimas Milta told, that folks managed to outsmart the govt .
Maksimas Milta
Maksimas Milta
“It’s also about low tech. within the place I stay immediately in Minsk, during this typical panel house with 9 floors, in August 9-12 when essentially there was no internet connection without VPN, what people living during this apartment house did, they need placed USB sticks with installation files at the doorway to the elevator for people to use them and install VPN clients on their laptops,” he said.
Now, whenever an enormous protest is under way, people in Belarus experience the slowdown of mobile internet. Mobile network companies attempt to warn the users beforehand, and can’t do anything about this because they're afraid to lose their licence, Maksimas Milta explained.
Government threats via SMS in Ukraine
6 years ago, a bloody revolution in Ukraine made president Viktor Janukovych seek shelter in Russia. Social media and technology played a crucial role in fueling the Euromaidan protests, and it also served as a tool for the govt to discourage the uprising.
“Digital space is merely empowering speech and calling people to action. Likes don't count. Thousands of likes won't influence any politician to roll back any political decision, and particularly now when both political regimes and other people skills to form thousands of paid likes,” Research Assistant at Digital Forensic lab Roman Osadchuk said during a discussion .
During the Euromaidan revolution, the most source of data in Ukraine was the TV. And state media often was silent about the events, or was trying to portray them as a protest of homeless people. Ukrainians didn’t have access to smartphones with speedy internet.
“Not even half the country had the web connection overall. Anyway, it worked, and 29% used Facebook on a day to day , tons of individuals used VK. Now it’s blocked. Huge communities emerged that were dedicated to the news and announcements of giant gatherings that happened every Sunday. They also posted news about missing people, missing journalists,” explained Roman Osadchuk.
Digital space is merely empowering speech and calling people to action. Likes don't count. Thousands of likes won't influence any politician to roll back any political decision, and particularly now when both political regimes and other people skills to form thousands of paid likes,
said Roman Osadchuk.
Then, online media emerged and gained popularity directly . Streams were live almost 24/7. “Many people weren't physically at the Euromaidan, but they felt a neighborhood of it just by watching what was happening. It showed what actually happened. When people see how police detain innocent people, it gives them motivation to mobilize and to protest,” explained Roman Osadchuk.
Government at the time also tried to harness social media for its purposes. for instance , as people used the hashtag #Euromaidan, pro-government people tried to override it and post hoaxes with this hashtag so as to scare people into staying reception rather than joining the revolution.
According to Roman Osadchuk, the govt also used SMS jamming – people especially areas of Kyiv received SMS messages saying that they were registered as participants of some anti-government protests.
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