Social media, protest, & outrage communication in Ethiopia: toward fractured publics or pluralistic polity?

Abstract

In 2018, Ethiopia experienced a tectonic political shift following the culmination of years of public outcry against the now defunct ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Protest groups, predominantly organized along ethnic identification, have used social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to disseminate strategies, recruit members, and galvanize support. Anchored on theories of collective identity and moral outrage, this study investigates the role of social media platforms in mobilizing Ethiopians toward political reform during the protest and post-protest periods demarcated by the ascent of Abiy Ahmed as the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Data generated from a mixed method approach consisting of an online survey and interviews indicate social media platforms played a crucial role by drawing Ethiopian youth to participate in political discourse, empowering formerly marginalized groups to influence policy, and fostering ingroup cultural/political cohesion. However, evidence indicates participation opportunities created by social media platforms also brought apprehension including the rise of outrage communication as manifested by inflammatory expressions, hate speech, and political extremism. By proposing outrage communication as a viable construct that captures this phenomenon, I argue, in the context of a polity embodying highly heterogeneous and competing collective identities – ethnic or otherwise – such as Ethiopia, social media platforms are likely to increase ingroup political participation but chronically diminish outgroup engagement.