CNN Segment: The Transformative Role of Social Media in the Middle East

Social media is intrinsically connected to events in the modern Middle East, in good times and bad. During the events of the Arab Spring, we witnessed how the transformative power of social media platforms helped unleash movements that have forever changed the regional status quo. Nearly four years later, the collective and interactive qualities of social media are once again being employed by groups such as ISIS that also want to undermine the status quo, albeit for regressive rather than progressive objectives. So why is social media such an attractive tool for movements of all types here in the Middle East? What are the qualities unique to social media that are attractive to a grassroots activist in Tunis and an extremist fighter in Raqaa alike? Richard Allan, Vice President Public Policy - Europe, Middle East and Africa, Facebook Faisal J. Abbas, Editor-in-Chief, Al Arabiya News (English) Ayman Safadi, CEO, Path Arabia Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, Journalist Becky Anderson, Anchor, CNN (Moderator)

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