Days of protest across Iran have left hundreds dead and many more injured.

Attempts by Iranian authorities to quell dissent through a near-total internet blackout point to the pivotal role that social media has played in organizing, spreading and documenting unrest.

The Conversation asked Shirvin Zeinalzadeh, an expert on the impact of media in collective action in Iran, to analyze how social media has been used during the mass protests and what its use reveals about protesters’ demands.

The dynamics of collective action in Iran and elsewhere have changed dramatically with the global spread of smartphones and digital technology.

This was first clearly visible during the Arab Spring, the series of uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East. During those events from late 2010, the phrase “We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate and YouTube to tell the world” first took hold.

And social media has played a role in the cycle of Iranian protests that took place since then: In 2017-2018, 2019, 2022 and, most recently, starting in December 2025.

Until the internet shutdown ordered by Iranian authorities on Jan. 8, there were numerous posts and videos documenting what began as the Bazaar protests against the falling value of Iran’s currency, the rial.

However, social media use has shifted significantly since the blackout. While posts will likely reappear once access is restored, the more striking development is the global online response to the shutdown itself.

Iranian diaspora........

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