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Social media, sousveillance and civil Social media, sousveillance and civil unrest in the UKunrest in the UK

Dr Paul ReillyDr Paul ReillyUniversity of LeicesterUniversity of Leicester

Paper presented to Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural ResearchPaper presented to Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural ResearchBirmingham City UniversityBirmingham City University

5 June 20135 June 2013@PaulJReilly@PaulJReilly

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Overview:

• Sousveillance and social media• Youtube, sousveillance and 2011 anti-tesco

riot(s) in Bristol• Social media as ‘accelerant’ for Union Flag

protests in Northern Ireland in 2013

Sousveillance and social media:• From French word sous (below) and veiller (to watch) –

‘inverse surveillance’• Concept developed by Mann to explore potential use of

wearable computing to empower users (1997, 2001)• Two forms: personal (first person perspectives on life) and

hierarchical (recording authority figures and actions)• Web 2.0 social practices (e.g. use of smart phones to access

social media) generate “intensification of sousveillance’ (Bakir, 2010)

Background: Stokes Croft, Bristol

• Survey in March 2010 shows that 93% of local people oppose opening of Tesco store

• Tesco receives planning permission to open store on Cheltenham road on 8 December 2010

• April 21 2011 – violence breaks out after police operation to evict squat opposite Tesco store- police claim they are acting on reports of petrol bomb threat from squat, local residents accuse police of ‘heavy-handed’ tactics

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Disagreement over police actions on 21st April:

” Yesterday there was a very real threat to the local community from the petrol bombs that were being made and we needed to take positive action [….] The fact that we seized petrol bombs illustrates the seriousness of this situation and the reason why we took this positive action”

Assistant Chief Constable Rod Hansen, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, 22nd April 2011.

The police tactics were unfathomable. They seemed to consist of running from one end of Stokes Croft to the other (and up several side streets), randomly charging about the place, getting more and more people involved and moving the violence into new areas that had previously been quiet.”

Battle of Stokes Croft: eye witness/local resident report, Bristol Indymedia, 22nd April 2011

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Videos of events posted on Youtube:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpPM2NXLK-c

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Reilly (forthcoming): Youtubers respond to this ‘sousveillance’ footage

• N=1018 comments left under four most commented-upon videos

• Videos show eyewitness perspectives on policing of disturbances

• Focus not only on riot police but also those who participated in/witnessed riot

• Study examines whether commenters perceived this was an act of hierarchical sousveillance and whether they sympathised with local residents

Comments: Key themes• Criticism of rioters (cost to tax payers, their background, efficacy of tactics)

A boycott or peaceful protest would have been far better

It was a substance fueled riot. Not an ideologically fueled_ one

• Police response (disproportionate, robust enough?)Yep I hope the police officers pay for_ their brutality

Look at countries like Italy and France, they shoot people with jets of water which send you flying. Our country really needs to shape-up

• Support for ‘People Power’

This is ART, it is beautiful democracy in action, it is empowering, engaging, an_ image of solidarity and people power. Go On YE!!!!!!!!!

• Why Tesco? (Tesco tax avoidance, threat to local business).Tesco's mindset of social theft with the long term_ result of turning communities into depersonalized ghost towns must always be challenged.

Results: Mixed response to sousveillance footage?

• Majority of the comments criticised the police for not adopting more aggressive crowd control methods e.g. water canon and baton rounds

• There was no consensus amongst commenters in relation to the broader issues e.g. legitimacy of local campaigns to protect small businesses from large corporations such as Tesco.

• Youtube provided a public space in which alternative perspectives were both seen and heard, but little rational debate about the meaning of events, with the views of many commenters still strongly influenced by the news media.

Social media and English riots (6-10 August 2011)Social media and English riots (6-10 August 2011)

• http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205032186327800375055.0004a9e051b74ddbfcadd&msa=0

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Social media used ‘for good and bad’ during August riots:

• BBM broadcasts used to organise riots in London, Birmingham, Manchester – ‘chitter-chatter’

• Rumours and unsubstantiated information spread via Twitter (e.g. Reading the Riots)

• People made aware via social and traditional media (esp television) that police had lost control of streets

• Social media provides real-time information about riots to local residents who board up shop windows and leave affected areas

• Twitter used to organise clean up operations (#riotcleanup)

Reilly (2011): Social media not to blame for street riots in Northern Ireland

• PSNI claimed they did not routinely monitor social media for intelligence about street riots (community workers believed they did though..)

• Key stakeholders perceive that the multistakeholder approach towards Internet Safety is an effective and proportionate response to the ‘anti-social’ networking practices of young people.

• They believed that anti-social behaviour could be organised via SMS text messaging if sites as Bebo were no longer available.

Union Flag protests: Social media as accelerant?

• Belfast City Council vote to fly Union Flag over City Hall only on designated days on 3rd December 2012

• Leaflet distributed in East Belfast constituency calls for PUL (Protestant Unionist Loyalist) people to protest

• Organisations such as Ulster People’s Voice (UPV) and Ulster People’s Forum (UPF) said to be behind protest at BCC vote – target pro-Union Alliance Party for their support of motion

• Operation Standstill designed to cause maximum disruption across Northern Ireland by blocking main roads

Facebook and Twitter used to promote #operationstandstill

List of planned protests circulates on social media:

Social media used by both citizen and professional journalists to share images of

rioting across Northern Ireland:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2q13e5-0Z8

Recording of pensioner arguing with loyalist protesters goes viral:• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI_VhAEw

B0k

Loyalist protesters upload footage showing alleged PSNI ‘brutality’ to

Youtube: Sousveillance?

Like English riots, rumours also circulate on social media sites:

• Pensioner caught on tape was a hoax - ‘republican dirty trick’

• Police vehicle drove through protest injuring several children

• Members of the Garda Siochana were responsible for policing protests in East Belfast

Q. Should PSNI be doing more to counter these rumours on Twitter?

Social media and conflict transformation in NI (Reilly, forthcoming) will:

• Analyse how parties, institutions have used new media to mobilise support for/against peace process

• Assess the contribution of social media to intercommunity dialogue

• Examine extent to which social media provide spaces in which alternative perspectives may be heard and mainstream media frames are challenged

Conclusion• Use of social media for sousveillance purposes may raise

more questions about behaviour of members of the public than the police

• Social media provides space for alternative perspectives on civil unrest to emerge but mainstream media framing of events continues to influence opinion of commenters

• But, analysis of content posted on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter may provide a more nuanced understanding of civil unrest than mainstream media