Foreign Policy & Social Media: A New Battleground

On August 3rd, 2011, the U.S. State Department openly declared its mission to counter extremism online through social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. This action clearly shows that the U.S. government is engaging in foreign policy online. What we too are seeing, through our research, is the shaping up of a new battleground of foreign policy engagement by governments democratic and otherwise via social medias. Some might say the opening act was the failed green revolution of 2009 when the U.S. State Department informally, through a low-level person, asked Twitter to not shut down its servers so Iranian protestors could continue to post. Then came the rise of the Arab Spring in January 2011.

Below we take a quick look at some of the online activities on foreign policy taking place by governments;

US State Department: Countering extremism through channels such as Facebook and Twitter. Already they have a number of embassies and senior staff on Twitter and blogging.

Iranian Basiji: The Basiji are actively engaged in putting out counter-revolutionary rhetoric against those Iranians pushing for regime change and more democracy. This started in 2010 and is only increasing in activity. The Iranian government puts similar anti-revolutionary content out through its website.

Sudan Government: Bashir engages legions of pro-Bashir bloggers to counter pro-separatist statements in 2010 through 2011.

Syrian Government: Assad takes a similar move to Bashir in Sudan using mostly bloggers and Facebook

Russian Government: The Russian government in 2011 ostensibly states it will map and monitor social media to better understand citizen views on issues. Some argue it is for spying on dissidents. At the same time the government has called for a ban on encrypted services like Gmail.

UK Government: Has established its Digital Diplomacy Department to put UK foreign policy issues into the public sphere. Like the U.S. State Department they have a number of Twitter accounts and train FCO staff on using and engaging in social media.

These are just a few examples of governments engaging in social medias to promote foreign policy or defend their roles and actions in the global sphere. While we are examining the use of social media and Internet policies internally, we can see on the global stage that governments recognize a need to listen and engage. It’s too early in the game to understand the long-term implications of these actions, but they are certainly playing a part in international affairs. And we suspect this will only increase over time.