IGF 2023 WS #563 Social media and conflict in Sudan

Description:

This workshop explores the role of social media in peacebuilding and manufactured consensus efforts in Sudan. The workshop examines the ways in which social media is being used to support peacebuilding initiatives in the country, as well as the challenges and limitations of these efforts. Starting from social media's role to promote peace and peaceful coexistence during the implementation of the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA), foster dialogue and engagement, creative alterntatives to conflict and increase awareness. In light of the ongoing war in Sudan, the workshop will highlight the unfolding threats to civilians and swaying their support to both the militia and army through inauthentic behavior and tactics. This workshop will provide practical examples and interactive ways of indentfying disinformation in the Sudanese social media landscape and efforts of countering including access to vital information and how maps are created that show the development of conflict. This workshop is based on social media monitoring and projects conducted with local NGOs, international diplomacy organisations in Sudan, and academic research from 2020 to 2023. The study shows that social media shift power dynamics and fuel conflict in Sudan despite low Internet access, both intentionally and unintentionally.
The use of social media for peace is a new and emerging field with an old basis in the creative act and utilization of new resources in peacebuilding. This session will explore ethical angles, challenges associated with social media mapping and information gathering; surveillance and bias. In authoritarian states, censorship of traditional media and journalists dictates heavy dependency on the Internet and social networking sites for news. This session will take into account the centrality of news around conflict, the role the Internet plays in decentralizing news, agenda setting aspect, spread of content, and desensitization factors of social sites.