There's no question that media is unique for different regions of the world. Living in the United States, I feel that it is often easy to forget the luxuries we have when it comes to simple things such as posting and sharing our thoughts and everyday tasks on media, as well as being able to interact and respond to politicians' comments and accounts on such platforms. Media is continuously growing and its importance in relation to politics and freedom is rather large. This week, we will be taking a look into the media usage throughout the Middle East and North Africa and how residents in these regions of the world go about using social media and how politics is factored into such. Something that was truly fascinating to me was that multiple countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa, "rank above the global average," when discussing the percentage of the population using such social platforms (GO-Globe). That being said, within the same region that hosts some of the most widely used social media populations, also contains some of the lowest ranking states as well. South Sudan is known to have one of the lowest levels of social media usage sitting at, "less than 5% of the population (4.3%), some 470,000 citizens in a country of nearly 11 million people, use social media," (GO-Globe). This drastic contrast really does speak to some of the social and political concerns throughout these regions and how each state handles the issues differently.
There is no denying that the Middle East and North Africa have had a rich history of struggles both politically and socially. In certain states, the citizens have experienced some of the strictest human rights laws and most unfair and unlawful political parties. While there has been a drastic increase within recent years in the usage of media platforms throughout MENA, a continuing struggle revolves around content regulation. Upon first looks, it appears that MENA residents have complete access to social media platforms and all the information that comes along with that. An example of this could be the fact that Turkey is the fifth largest user of Instagram globally. That being said though, the regulation of social media content continues to be an ongoing struggle as governments continuously implement policies in order to regulate and hide certain social media content. This could very easily be taken advantage of, which several states and governments have done already in order to censor material that they do not agree with or wish for their citizens not to see. This has a large impact as several politicians have censored political content in order to show only certain articles that speak highly of them while silencing those that speak the truth and show support for opposing parties.
Regulation on media has the opportunity to play directly into politics and how much information citizens have available to them in order to allow them to make well rounded, educated decisions regarding political choices. Regulating media also hinders upon free speech as often more times than not these regulations reside over what the people are posting as well and limits their ability to post opposing views or opinions without the fear of backlash or consequences. On top of the regulations, data privacy is also a concern especially in terms of the businesses throughout this region. It is extremely important to guarantee the safety and security of these users and unfortunately this is lacking throughout many of the states. As social media continues to expand and politics become more intertwined with it, it will be extremely important to stay on top of how these regions are handling the usage of media and whether or not it is restrictive to their citizens. These characteristics can play a large role in bettering understanding and determining the level of freedom, human rights, and democracy throughout these states.
Social Media Usage in Middle East: Trends in 2024. GO-Globe. (2024, August 19). https://www.go-globe.com/social-media-usage-in-middle-east-statistics/
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