“Do you think that the social media has brought significant changes in the forms of protest? Argue your case.” (2023)
Charles Tilly argued that every era has a limited repertoire of contention. In eighteenth-century Europe it meant grain seizures and effigy burning; from the nineteenth century, marches, petitions and strikes. My case is that social media has produced a third repertoire shift: a significant change in how people protest, though not in what makes protest effective, which still needs bodies, commitment and organisation.
The case for significant change
| Earlier form | Digital-era form | Illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Pamphlet, press statement | Hashtag campaign, meme, satire | #MeToo India (2018) named harassers publicly and forced a minister’s resignation |
| Leader-called rally | Leaderless flash mobilisation | Kolkata’s “Reclaim the Night” (14 August 2024) grew from one online appeal |
| Committee meeting | Online forums and polls that decide tactics | Hong Kong 2019: LIHKG forum votes, Telegram channels, “be water” tactics |
| Journalist as witness | Livestreaming and citizen video | The 2020 video of George Floyd’s killing set off global Black Lives Matter protests |
| Local petition | Transnational digital campaign | Fridays for Future (2018) spread school strikes to Indian cities |
These are not just new tools. They change the logic of protest:
- W. Lance Bennett and Alexandra Segerberg (2012): connective action replaces collective identity with personalised frames, so people can join without joining an organisation.
- Manuel Castells (Networks of Outrage and Hope, 2012): protest now happens in hybrid space, with networks online and occupations offline.
- Alberto Melucci‘s point that movements challenge cultural codes fits the aesthetic forms now common: poetry recitals, art walls and viral songs at Shaheen Bagh (December 2019–March 2020).
- The state’s repertoire has changed too. India imposed 65 internet shutdowns in 2025 (Access Now), and account-blocking orders were issued during the farmers’ protest. Protest has become partly a contest over information flows.
The counter-case
- Malcolm Gladwell (“Small Change”, 2010) drew on Doug McAdam’s study of Freedom Summer to argue that high-risk activism depends on strong ties, which clicks do not build.
- Zeynep Tufekci (Twitter and Tear Gas, 2017): fast digital mobilisation skips capacity-building and produces a “tactical freeze”. Egypt’s 2011 uprising gave way to military rule in 2013.
- Evgeny Morozov (The Net Delusion, 2011): authoritarian states use the same tools for surveillance and propaganda.
- Older forms persist and still decide outcomes. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha held tractor-trolley camps with community kitchens (langars) on Delhi’s borders for about a year until the farm laws were repealed in 2021. Sonam Wangchuk’s Ladakh campaign relied on Gandhian fasts and padyatras. Adivasi resistance to mining in Hasdeo Arand works through gram sabhas and dharnas, beyond the reach of the digital divide.
- Physical space is still what the law contests. In Amit Sahni (2020) the Supreme Court held that public ways cannot be occupied indefinitely. In Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (2018) it allowed regulated protest at Jantar Mantar.
Weighing the case
Tilly’s WUNC displays (worthiness, unity, numbers, commitment) give the test. Social media has sharply lowered the cost of showing numbers and spread the display of worthiness. But showing numbers online costs little, so it signals little; commitment still has to be shown in person and over time. The change in forms is therefore real and significant, while the underlying logic of effective protest endures.
Conclusion
Yes: social media has added new and powerful forms to the repertoire, including hashtag protest, leaderless swarms, livestreamed witnessing and transnational campaigning. It has also made the state’s control of information a new front of contention. But in India and elsewhere, the protests that succeeded fused these forms with long-standing street, camp and satyagraha repertoires. The shift is best described as hybridisation, not replacement.