CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

The role of the social media in the proliferation of propaganda during conflicts has growingly assumed an increasing importance to those aiming at garnering public support for a political conflict (Hamdani 2017).  Propaganda has been widely used in contemporary times, both to obtain and consolidate consensus within the country and as an instrument to regulate international relations especially in war (Marsili, 2015).

The Internet has hitherto served as a significant new resource for information spread in conflicts from both conflicting sides to engender propaganda in its different forms he added. Internet usage has evolved rapidly over the past decade, transforming the global and political and economic environment (Jones, 2018). Distance is no longer a barrier for getting a message across to a vast audience.

Mobile devices allow people to easily get information about anything on the internet. Real time images of oppressive government activities and violation of human rights can easily be seen now by the world and it has become very easy for politicians to do campaigns these days. Broader audiences can now be reached at greater speed at low cost. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister, called radio ‘the most important instrument of mass influence that exists anywhere’ (Welch, 1993).

Elites in control of autocratic states have repeatedly used mass media often under their direct control with the intention to induce citizen support of and participation in violence against certain groups (Lee 1945, & Lasswell 1971).

The anonymity and unrestricted nature of the World Wide Web has become a new back up mechanism for outgunned fighters. A number of pro and anti-government websites have been created. Many of them are constructed in many languages to address not only the local people but people from all over the world. Owners and designers of those websites are mostly non- governmental organizations and supporters of one side while others are government-sponsored websites.

The anonymity and unrestricted nature of the World Wide Web has become a new back up mechanism for the spread of propaganda (Hamdani, 2017). A number of pro and anti-government social media sites have been created. Many of them are constructed in many languages to address not only the local people but people from all over the world. Owners and designers of those social media sites are mostly non- governmental organizations and supporters of one side while others are government-sponsored websites.

This mechanism has developed a new system to manipulate the public perception of the conflict. Social media platforms have become important in spreading propaganda images during conflicts, as demonstrated in several recent cases including the Israeli–Hamas confrontation in 2012 and graphic internet videos by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in 2014. Against this backdrop, popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have served as important venues for political actors in conflict to share propaganda audios, images and videos.

The proliferation of mass media, along with their predominance in the public sphere as privileged information transmitters, has contributed to the generalization of propaganda, as well as to its dominance in modern reality. As a consequence, politics – the privileged field of propaganda – is, in many cases, presented and being perceived as a happening and as a fragmentary, personified process that abounds with emotional argumentation and recriminations (Stoker 2009). In this perspective, the political propagandistic strategy does not constitute the sole former of the messages that will reach the public.

This message ‘suffers’ the influence of the media culture and rationale in presenting and disseminating information to the wider public. Hence, propaganda is the combination of political communication strategy and the influence of the media, which will broadcast a certain piece of (propagandistic) information.

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