ABSTRACT
Introduction: social media in Russia – tools for protest or for control? Social media has become part and parcel of social movements’ arsenal for resisting power holders around the world. Examples of social media’s role in protests range from the Arab Spring in the Middle East to Occupy Wall Street in the United States, to Los Indignados in Spain and to the Russian protest wave of 2011-2012 (Etling et al. 2010; Caren & Gaby 2011; Gerbaudo 2012; Postill 2013). The use of social media applications in disseminating information and organizing demonstrations has elicited a considerable literature on their role in protest movements. More specifically, the role of social networking sites, notably Facebook, has been studied extensively (e.g., Gladarev & Lonkila 2012; Vissers & Stolle 2014; White & McAllister 2014). While useful tools in mobilizing opposition against repressive governments, social media and social networking sites also have a more sinister side: data accumulated in various social media applications can undermine the privacy and security of individual citizens, with potentially grave results for opposition protesters in authoritarian countries.
