Digital and social media refer to online platforms that allow users to create, share, and exchange digital content, such as text, images, and videos. Digital and social media can take various forms, such as social networking sites, blogs, microblogs, and video-sharing platforms, and can be used for multiple purposes, such as communication, entertainment, and information sharing (Suwana 2020 AU102: The in-text citation "Suwana 2020" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ; Earl, Maher, and Pan 2022 AU103: The citation "Earl, Maher, and Pan 2022" matches multiple references. Please add letters (e.g. "Smith 2000a"), or additional authors to the citation, to uniquely match references and citations. )
Published in Chapter:
X-Raying Digital Activism in Selected Countries: New Frontiers for Mobilization
Copyright: © 2024
|Pages: 18
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-9467-7.ch012
Abstract
The spectacle of digital activism has taken the world by storm as silent voices manipulate the advantages or opportunities provided by social networking sites (SNSs) to organise protests by engaging their audiences using a panoply of digital technologies. The efficacy of such novel engagement as part of social action movements has become common worldwide, and Africa is no exception. The proliferation of digital media spaces has often made authoritarian resilience costly, but it continues to oil the surveillance economy, data capitalism, and global information manipulation. The chapter presents classical case studies reflecting how this phenomenon has engulfed African states. A qualitative research approach unpacks this phenomenon, as it has become deeply rooted in Africa's drive for social change. The chapter enquires about epistemological reasons such platforms have become a threat to the legacy media.