Disruption Timeline

  • Arab Springs

    Arab Springs
    Individuals in the Middle East utilized Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to organize meetups to speak out against oppression, inspiring hope and to inspire individuals to work for a more democratic future. The individuals were able to organize in 2010 till 2012, because the government did not have a clear knowledge of the potential of meetups.
  • Euromaiden

    Euromaiden
    The "Euromaiden" protest that called for President Viktor Yanukovych and his government to resign, filled Ukraine with waves of demonstrations and civil unrest. Reports give credit to the initial tweets of journalists and activists on Twitter and Facebook as the main source that brought hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians out into the streets. Together Internet news sites and Twitter were able to provide themes for the protests.
  • Venezuelan Opposition Riots

    Venezuelan Opposition Riots
    Venezuela's opposition party took to the streets to vocalize distrust toward left-wing government officials. Protesters interested in joining the fight, distrust news media according to the article "Venezuelan Opposition Turns To Social Media During Protest, and took to social media to see what was going on and how they could get involved. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook were the primary platforms millions of Venezuelans used to read the "true" message the opposition party desired to spread.
  • #Ferguson

    #Ferguson
    The first reports of the Ferguson shooting appeared on Twitter. Individuals interested in getting involved with the riots were primarily informed via Twitter about the location of the riots. The introduction of tear gas and brute force was initially spread via Twitter. The news was unable to capture the tone as easily as Twitter. Users began using #Ferguson as a way to protest police brutality. This introduced a national hashtag that is an icon for a national police problem instead of local.
  • ISIS Social Movement

    ISIS Social Movement
    Never before has a terrorist group had access to the minds and eyes of millions of people. ISIS uses Facebook and Twitter as well as peer-to-peer messaging apps such as Telegram and Surespot to decentralize their media operations and reach a wide geographical range. According to "Documenting the Virtual Caliphate," they post 38 new items per day, documentaries, videos and essays to reach its audience and recruit new members.