As a Lebanese person who has seen and witnessed Lebanese people suffering from political
corruption for more than 20 years, it was a big surprise seeing Lebanese people from different
religions and groups uniting together back in October 2019 and revolting against the political
system. I was following and observing the news about the revolution on social media and I
saw how people were very engaged on social media. After that, we started witnessing threats
and fake news in addition to videos of violence spreading on social media; this is what made
me decide to study social medias impact on this revolution.
This study aims to learn social medias role during the Lebanese revolution and whether the
fake news and the threats that spread on different social media platforms were the reason
behind the revolutions gradual demise.
After reviewing the literature on social medias impact on political movements around the
world, the definition and evolution of hashtags, the sentiment analysis role, and the digital
influencers role in politics, a survey was conducted by around 100 people and an open-ended
survey was taken by activists. Furthermore, hashtag analysis and an influencers activity
analysis were conducted.
The results of this study will show how social media was instrumental during the Lebanese
revolution, it was the main resource that activists used to organize events, motivate and call
on people to participate, and broadcast the news and updates. However, we will also notice
how social media played a negative role by spreading fake news, threats and violence videos,
eventually leading to the demise of the revolution.
