SOCIAL MEDIA:

A NEW PLAYER IN
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS

A Political Science III Assignment

Professor In charge: Prof. Neha Athavale

Done by;
89. Jyoti Renuke
90. Abhishek Roy
91. Yogesh Ruparel
92. Sreshta Satpathy
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topic Page No.

Introduction 2

I. Facebook’s Impact On International 3

Relations
~ Yogesh Ruparel

II. Facebook & Data Theft 6

~ Jyoti Renuke

III. Changing Channels Of Political 8

Diplomacy – ‘Twiplomacy’
~ Abhishek Roy

IV. Twitter and Toolkit controversy 10

~ Sreshta Satpathy

Concluding Remarks 13

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 INTRODUCTION
Media is the reflection of our society and it depicts what and how
society works. Media, either it is printed, electronic or social is the only
medium, which helps in making people informed. In the 21st century,
Social Media has become the voice of our society. There is a variety of
Social Media platforms that have stimulated the thoughts of the young
generation and other sections of our society, more powerfully. With the
advancement of science and technology, the world has come close to
each other. Today people don’t have to wait for the dissemination process
but the condition is such that every social media has become a source of
information on its own. “The agenda-setting theory” is the primary
emphasis on shaping public opinion. Public Opinion is that the sum of the
individual views, attitudes, and beliefs over a particular topic, expressed
by a big proportion of a community. Public opinion changes Public
perception, which is what people perceive about a certain event, issue,
organization, state, or anything in a ray of knowledge, information,
cultural background or experience they have.

Nowadays, International politics has shifted from geographical and

physical levels to cultural and communication levels with Social media
playing a crucial role in perceptions and image building. Consequently,
we are increasingly removed from the experience and becoming overly
dependent on the representations of reality that come to us through
media.

In this paper, we focus on 2 major social media platform, namely

Facebook and Twitter. Here we explore how these two giants have
dictated people’s mind-set and shaped international politics. The paper is
divided into four segments; the first 2 dealing with Facebook and its
implications and the next 2 with Twitter.

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 I
FACEBOOK’S IMPACT ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.

Social Media’s role in international relations.

Social media has created a ‘global village’ that we can point to
changes in the way citizens of states view themselves and others. Social
media supply information, and at the same time shape people’s learning
process about the world, thus Social media has a correspondingly large
influence on individuals’ picture of the world. The influence of Social
media is elaborated on in what is called ‘cultivation Theory”. Cultivation
Theory’ holds that popular Social media, such as Facebook or Twitter,
has the power to influence our views of the world and it is “primarily
responsible for our perceptions of day to day norms and reality”. Thus
Social Media has become the major source of information today and has
become a part of us and part of our family life and started impacting
International Relations also.

Role of Facebook in the Arab Spring

Facebook, alongside other social media options, was instrumental
in bringing down a few ruling groups and altered the international
dynamics within the 'Middle East and North Africa' region. 2010 and
2011, were the years of huge political uprisings in the Middle East. The
uprisings were mainly the result of the political mobilization that was
generated by the Social Networking sites such as Face book, Twitter and
YouTube Social media played an important role in awakening the people
and mobilizing them to protest for their rights, and against the
authoritarian regimes, they were living under. Arab Spring that started
from Tunisia and spread over the entire Middle East, began when
individuals started to be enraged by the Authoritative Regime.

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 The Arab world has been battling long to change their legislatures
gradually, however, they were falling flat, until finally in 2010
oppositions began, the self-immolation of a vegetable merchant simply
energized up the procedure of these demonstrations. None would have
accepted that the challenge of a young vegetable merchant named
Muhammad Bouazizi would have unleashed a stream of protests for
democracy within the Arab world. Muhammad Bouazizi set himself
ablaze before the organization of the Tunisian Government on December
17, 2010, in the wake of being embarrassed by a female officer. The
rebellions for a popularity based government or democracy had started,
which, afterwards extended across the entire Middle East. To bring down
or dissolve the dictatorial regime became the motto of the protestors.
The Arab Spring had many causes; however, the most obvious among
them was Social Media. This notion was elegantly illustrated by a
protestor that utilized Facebook to plan the dissents; Twitter to
synchronize the protests and eventually, YouTube was used to show the
world the protests and riots going on in the Middle Eastern world. Social
networks and outlets made the persecuted individuals express their
thoughts, to see the ruthlessness they are long enduring and to make
them act and to stop this administration severity and therefore the
illegitimate control of the state. Bouazizi's video of setting himself ablaze
was exclusively shown on social sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
for getting the attention of the population and to encourage them to
come out and fight for their rights. This created his story to be told over
and over.

This drove the general population to condemn the legislature and

urged them to remain firm against the savagery of the government. An
influx of protests and riots begins that toppled the legislature of Tunisia
and after that the government of Egypt. Then the Civil war started up in
Libya and protests started within the boulevards of Morocco, Algeria,
Yemen and Syria. The Arab Springs within the Middle East was mainly
fostered by Social media which has played a task of mobilization towards
pro-democracy movements. Social media promoted Arab Spring and
helped protestors in their movement for a democratic government and, in
doing so, revolutions were fostered resulting in the fall of Governments
in Middle Eastern countries.

Conclusion
Social media has now evolved to be the basic source of information,
news, and a source to read criticism and political analysis. Almost every
living soul has its hand on Social media and, can easily access social

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media and its usage has evolved because of the most influential
occurrence within the present society. People from all age groups use
these social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter,
WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram and many other social media outlets for
communication and interaction. It is providing the world with a platform
to share and express their thoughts and ideas, entertain them and also
make them aware of the global happenings.

The Middle East has long been ruled by dictators and monarchs.
Under their rule, if any media outlet would broadcast or publish news
that was against the government that media outlet would face severe
consequences. All the media was censored by the government. But with
the invention of Social Media Middle East underwent much digital
advancement. Social media enabled people to share their feelings and
thoughts. Social Media became the voice of the people. People made
themselves aware of world politics and how people in a democracy
enjoyed their rights. The Middle Eastern People realized how less they
got the rights and the way their rulers were exploiting them. The pro-
democratic feelings aroused in the people and they started thinking of
having a government of their own choice. Thus, they became frustrated
by their rulers and expressed their frustrations via these Social
networking sites. These social networking sites and applications
persuaded the masses to possess the facility they were always fancied
for.

Before the start of the Arab Spring, few of the countries had
already had online public groups where political thoughts and views were
shared, and these were free from the censorship of the Government. The
videos of the lavish lifestyles of the rulers were shared on Facebook and
YouTube. People became conscious of the corruption of their rulers and
also showed international communities how they need been living under
these corrupt rulerships. Once the protests erupted, the Middle Eastern
countries started a wide shut down on the social activists and the
bloggers and also the human rights activists. A huge number of social
activists faced the brutality and excesses committed by the government.
But the Social media and social networking sites became the tools for the
public to support the pro-democratic movement and protest for a
democratic government, and also to spotlight the corruption and
brutality of the Authoritarian regimes.

There is a difference of opinion on how many parts social media

had played in fostering the revolutions during the Arab Spring, but there
is no denying the fact that Arab spring was the product of Social Media
and social networking sites. For an equivalent reason, we will now see

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every political person on these social sites and social media cells of each
party working to market its mandate and propositions to come to power.
Social Media is additionally employed by them to offer updates of the
projects and other happenings, and their thinking or defence to a specific
event. Thus by this analysis, we can conclude that social media has made
us more active and respondent and the government to be more vigilant
and have also promoted the pro-democratic views and thoughts among
the overall public. The internet and its major component, social media,
assumed a central part within the Arab spring. The Arab spring would
have not been achieved if there were no social media, but the efficacy of
social media in fostering Arab Spring cannot be denied.

II
FACEBOOK & DATA THEFT
Social networking sites are foreign companies’ invasions that come
to India to earn money and to settle down in India, as the Aim of Multi-
National Corporations to launch the event and settled in the country.
With the high use of internet connectivity among people, the number of
social media users in India have been growing constantly. The year 2020,
which came under the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, saw much resort to
social media to gather information or to express themselves and several
new topics and conversations began trending on social media in India.
People are more conveyed in social media rather than face to face
conversation. Data reveals that this growth and different trends on social
media in India are poised to continue.
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Facebook
Facebook is a foreign base company
that is used by many countries and the use
of Facebook is increasing day by day, as
people feel it as more comfortable. Because
of this the followers of FB are rising in the
entire world and increasing the income of
the company. The money earns in India
through Facebook is went to the MNC’S
without paying any taxes in India. This
would result in a financial crisis in the
country where they earn money by using
their workers and followers. Indian people
are more likely to be engaged on Facebook.

One of the important drawbacks of

social media is that the data of one person can be transfer to another
person it means the information of the person can be licked by hacking
the site. This harms the individual and this violates the right of an
individual. Because of the increase in the usages of social media, online
users have been exposed to privacy and security threats. Security issues
are rising and rumours are spread across the country.

Cambridge Analytica Scandal

The Cambridge Analytica data scandal was one of the biggest
scandals that happened in the United Kingdom. This scandal contains the
personal data of millions of Facebook users without their consent
obtained by British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, predominantly
to be used for political advertising. The data were collected through an
app called "This Is Your Digital Life. Facebook sent a message to those
users who are attached to Facebook in some aspect, saying that that the
information likely to include individuals’ public profile, page likes,
birthday and current city. Some of the app's users gave the app
permission to access their News Feed, timeline, and messages. The data
was detailed enough for Cambridge Analytica to create psychographic
profiles of the subjects of the data. The data also included the locations of
each person. For a given political campaign, each profile's information
suggested what type of advertisement would be most effective to
persuade a particular person in a particular location for some political
event.

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 Data explored in
Cambridge Analytica were used
by different companies and
individual authority. Cambridge
Analytica had become a point of
focus in politics since its
involvement in Trump's
campaign. People reacted to
the data privacy breach by
starting the campaign- Delete
Facebook to start a movement
to boycott Facebook.

In April 2018, the first full month since the breaking of the
Cambridge Analytica data breach, the number of likes, posts and shares
on the site had decreased by almost 20% and has decreased ever since,
with the aforementioned activity only momentarily increasing during the
summer and the 2018 US midterm elections. Despite this, user growth of
the site has increased in the period since increased media coverage,
increasing by 1.8% during the final quarter of 2018.

Conclusion
Due to the vast use of foreign companies in India, the domestic
capacity is not developing in India, which result in decreasing the
development of People. Social media application like Facebook,
WhatsApp, Twitter etc. are a big challenge for Indian Entrepreneurs and
they cannot improve their ability, which results in a fall in Indian
development and new companies in India.

III

8
 Changing channels of Political
Diplomacy – ‘Twiplomacy’
International diplomacy is no longer the physical round table
conference among men in suits. Diplomacy has developed and evolved
with time. From the discovery of Morse Telegraph to the emergence of
Radio and Television to the current era of Social media platforms like
Twitter and Facebook, these not only help in connecting people but also
connecting the leaders of the world.

Politicians and diplomats are seen to use social media as a tool to

communicate with their counterparts. Twitter is being largely used by
them as a means of communication between the nation-states. What is
surprising is the amount of transparency these social media platforms
provide, with the freedom to read and reply to the messages initiated by
the national leaders; to comment and share opinions; and helps in
analysing national policies. The social media posts by the state actors
help to frame a unique identity as to how the states wish to portray
themselves and recognised by other nation-states.

With the increase in informed public opinion and public

involvement in diplomatic talks these social media platforms especially
‘Twitter’, has changed the way of orthodox political diplomacy. With the
ability to confer acceptance of the state actors, Twitter has provided a
platform for politicians and diplomats to keep a check on their decisions
and get a first-hand reaction on how the public reacts to them.

Social media networks like Twitter allow government officials to

project their views on an issue or announce developments in the public
domain without the use of official and formal jargons. Twitter-Diplomacy
or ‘Twiplomacy’ overcomes the shortcomings of traditional diplomacy
primarily red-tapeism and a top-down bureaucratic approach at times of
negotiation and distribution of information. Many nations of the world
use Twitter as a means of diplomatic communication with other nation-
states, as well as the public, which has led to transparency in foreign
policymaking.

More and more countries and politicians are starting to engager

themselves on Twitter to create a favourable image of themselves among
the people. Just as brand building, this effort seems like ‘nation
branding’. This nation branding plays an important role in building
diplomatic relations among nation-states.

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 The era of Twiplomacy started much early in the 2010 decade.
However prominent action gained when former U.S President Donald
Trump started to interact with his counterparts, in an almost informal
fashion, from his official Twitter handle. The controvertible interaction
between Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in
2017 isn’t unknown to anyone. The classic play of words in Trump’s
tweets was no less than entertainment to the world. But this grew up to
be a serious concern for the American Diplomats and military officials.

People can now directly reach out to the governments. A classic

example of this would be when (Late) Smt. Sushma Swaraj used twitter
to assist Indians held hostages in Iraq. Similarly in 2019 after the
Ethiopian Airlines crashed, she used the platform to get in touch with the
family of one of the deceased. She innovatively used Twitter by tagging
respective ambassadors urging them to respond swiftly for the service of
citizens in distress.1

From inviting former President Barak Obama for 2015 Republic

Day celebrations to popularising the International Yoga Day, Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has explored the full potential of
Twiplomacy. More recently various world leaders thanked the Indian
Prime Minister for receiving the Made-in-India Covid-19 vaccine,
Covaxin.

However, in the past month, it could be seen that India is still a

little unfamiliar with Twitter diplomacy. Though India maintains a
healthy relationship with nation-states and state actors, in the recent
turn of events after the 26th January 2021 protest it could be seen that its
response to non-state actors was a little immature. The Ministry of
External Affairs (MEA) must decipher that celebrity activism plays a huge
part in moulding people’s opinion. India must use it for its benefits, as
this has become the new normal.

It is an indispensable truth that social media has become an

essential tool in forming diplomatic relations. Whether it be used as a
helpline, as has been done by Smt. Sushama Swaraj or a critically punted
approach adopted by Donald Trump, all leaders have used Twitter as a
platform to speak out on national and international topics, diatribe
opponents and deepening international relations. India has tremendous
soft power when it comes to Twiplomacy with other nations. Channelling
this power into a strong everlasting relationship is what India must focus
on.

1
https://www.hindustantimes.com/it-s-viral/sushma-swaraj-was-always-just-a-tweet-away-how-she-turned-
twitter-into-a-helpline-for-indians/story-ViA7TtBOcZmANqdEQaYnwM.html

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 IV
TWITTER AND TOOLKIT
CONTROVERSY
Introduction
Social Media has always affected every individual and every
industry possible, it has left nothing untouched by its globalizing force
and although many may initially dismiss the idea, social media has been
playing a major and powerful role in International Relations for some
time now. Nowadays Social media has created an environment that both
empowers citizens and puts diplomats under public scrutiny in a way that
the mainstream media was not able to do previously.

The most recent example we could take is the escalation of hostile

language between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, with North
Korean officials declaring the President’s tweets amount to a declaration
of war2.

This assignment will be focusing on is how Twitter or rather certain

tweets have been creating problems within India as well as in
international relations.

Beginning from the first event, on 4 February 2021, Swedish climate

activist, Greta Thunberg extended her support to the ongoing farmers'
protest in India and shared a toolkit via her official Twitter handle. But
shortly after tweeting the toolkit, she deleted it and shared an updated
version of the document later as she claimed it was outdated.

2
https://blogs.unsw.edu.au/

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What is a toolkit and what did it mention?
Social media has given a platform to the people in which they have
started registering their opinions and views on social media. Some
activists too, now collaborate using a 'toolkit' to explain the protest and
how people can support it. The toolkit which was shared by Greta
Thunberg guided people on how to stand in solidarity with the ongoing
farmers' protest in India. Although the original toolkit called for a digital
strike on or before 26 January 2021 (Republic Day) and underscored
'carrying out protests outside Indian embassies' as one of the actions to
support the cause3.

It also highlighted a list of previous actions that were taken to amplify

the farmers' voices online. The document also mentioned various
hashtags for Twitter Storm such as #AskIndiaWhy, #FarmersProtest,
and #TheWorldIsWatching4.

The reaction of the Indian Government

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) took up support from the
celebrities associated with the Sports and Bollywood industry with the
hashtags "#IndiaTogether" and "#IndiaAgainstPropaganda".

Later on 4 February 2021, Delhi Police filed an FIR against

unknown people for creating and spreading the toolkit and to probe
'international conspiracy' to defame India. And the arrest of activist
Disha Ravi for creating and editing the toolkit, which allegedly instigated
the violence during the 26 January 2021 tractor parade. As per the Delhi
Police, it was Disha Ravi who created and shared the toolkit with Great
Thunberg.

The Delhi Police alleged that Disha Ravi with lawyer Nikita Jacob
and engineer Shantanu Muluk created this toolkit and shared it with
others to tarnish the image of India. The accused people have been
charged under IPC Section 124 (A) for sedition, Section 153 (A) for
promoting enmity between different sections of the society and Section
120 (B) for criminal conspiracy5.

The government ordered Twitter to block 1,178 accounts with links

to Pakistan and Khalistan supporters which were spreading
misinformation and provocative content on farmers' protest, sources
said.
3
https://www.mbarendezvous.com/
4
https://www.thehindu.com/
5
https://www.jagranjosh.com/

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The Reaction of other Nations
It is no coincidence that the most populous democracy is under
assault, and as we speak, the world's oldest democracy was attacked not
even a month ago. This is related. All of us should be outraged by India's
internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters,
Meena Harris tweeted as she tagged a photograph of a group of farmers
protesting against the farm laws.

Drawing parallels between the storming of the US Capitol and the

crackdown on the protesting farmers, Harris said "militant nationalism is
just as potent a force in US politics as it is in India or anyplace else." 6

Recently, a couple of other international personalities have come

out in support of the protesting farmers in India, including singer
Rihanna and environment activist Greta Thunberg.

Conclusion
In my opinion, a lot of problems have been taking place due to
social media but that could be minimized if looked into. One tweet by a
person who does not reside in India or is not Indian created such a mess
in the country. As simple as Rihanna’s tweet was the reaction could have
been also that minor. Of course, in some cases, the tweets impact the
image of a nation but some just did not need so much attention. The time
when all of the Indian celebs, personalities comment on black lives, the
attack on the US government or even the burning of the forests it is just
the concern that they put forth and not that they are aiming to attack the
government or any person.

When governments do crackdown on such activities, it is social

media that is responsible for quickly sharing workarounds and
alternatives, making any collaboration/clash between countries Public
backlash against government action is also voiced on social media and
can cause a new set of unwelcome problems for policymakers trying to
maintain some order amongst the chaos.

International Relations as a discipline has only recently begun to

engage with the growth of social media and its implications for global
politics. But if the current climate is anything to go by, social media is
well on the way to disrupting the traditional channels and methods of
diplomacy.

6
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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 CONCLUDING REMARKS
The social media explosion has affected every individual and every
industry, it’s left nothing untouched by its globalizing force and although
many may initially dismiss the idea, social media has been playing a
strong role in diplomacy for a few time now. Social media has created an
environment that both empowers citizens and puts diplomats under
public scrutiny in a way that the mainstream media was unable to do
previously. For better and worse, it has brought people from around the
world into a kind of personal contact. People on one side of the world are
more likely to be exposed to ways of thinking about a wider range of
things that they would be Social Media not around. This can help or hurt.

Information on Social Media can be true or false. And when it's

provided without context, it often confusing. Posts that elicit emotional
reaction can have strong effects, albeit what's portrayed is fake Social
media can also lead to a false sense of engagement, "clicktivism" where

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pushing a button in favour of something makes one think that they have
done something useful. Social Media is a new tool that has been used by
various groups as a weapon to fight International politics in the last
decade. Whether Social Media has helped the people of the region
positively or not, is immaterial as in this age any source of media can
make or break international or national relations.

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