2024-04-22
18 分钟In late 2010, a Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire.
It was an act of desperation and protest against the government.
His action would change the world.
President Ben Ali lost control and fled his regime.
Suddenly, over the touch paper of revolution had been lit.
Mass civil unrest followed in the country and sparked a wave of protests across North Africa and the Middle East.
The Arab Spring.
We are tired.
We are tired.
The speed with which the protests spread, catalyzed by social media, caught the world off guard.
However, where social media once galvanized Tunisians to take to the streets against their authoritarian government, some say it's now being used to suppress the critics of President Kai Said, Tunisia's increasingly autocratic leader.
And it's leading some people to flee the country altogether.
There was the freedom of speech and expression that was gained out of the revolution and that that has disappeared.
I am Beth Godwin and this is BBC Trending.
In this series, we're exploring how power is used and misused on social media.
In this episode, we're looking at social media in Tunisia and its role in tipping the fledgling democracy back into dictatorship.
There were rumors or urban legends of Serbians on social media.
That's Shreya.
She's an Indian doctoral scholar in sociology and politics.
In 2022, Shreya was living and studying in Tunis, Tunisia's capital city.