http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/books/review/how-an-egyptian-revolution-began-on-facebook.html

The catalyst of the Egyptian Revolution was social media - primarily Facebook - on which Wael Ghonim started a page remembering Khalid Mohamed who was beaten to death by the police.

In the months that followed, communities used social media platforms to organize and threaten Mubarak's oppressive regime, seemingly transcending restrictions on free speech. At the height of protests and demonstrations in Tahrir Square, the Egyptian government responded by asserting its dominance through cutting access to mobile networks.

While the fall of the Mubarak government can be accredited to the mobilization of the most powerful protests in the history of Egypt, the subsequent open political discourse in the virtual public sphere produced unforeseeable consequences. The very platforms that initially functioned as a new and refreshing public space became polarized through the aforementioned forces of conformity of opinion, and conflict. Vested interests infiltrated formerly genuine discourses and encouraged division, obfuscating existing debates and neutralizing the real-world impacts.

-- MadihaZahrahChoksi - 05 Oct 2017

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