Indeed, there are many political differences in Arab nations despite the same language and religion. According to Hassan in “Social Media and the Arab Spring,” the Arab Spring was the first time in Arab history where “all Arabs could experience one world, a world without borders, boundaries, or censorship” (5). Social media lured protesters without borders to engage in riots despite having little time for planning. According to Mourtada and Salem, 88% of Egyptians get their news from social media (9). As a result, during the Arab Spring, the estimated number of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square, Egypt, increased from 250,000 (as of January 31, 2011) to nearly 1,000,000 (as of February 1, 2011) and continued to grow in the following days . (Stork 24). According to data from a project on information technology and political Islam by Howard, Aiden, Deen, Muzammil, Will and Marwa, during four days from May 16 to May 20, 2011, the top videos uploaded to YouTube with the word key “Egypt” received nearly 2,127,384 million views (29). Social media played a huge role in the mobilization
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