Digital battleground: Exploring the role of social media platforms in digital activism in Case of Mahsa Amini movement in Persian Twitter*

The death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 sparked one of the most significant protest movements in Iran’s recent history, marked by the global rallying cry #WomenLifeFreedom. This paper investigates the role of Twitter (now X) in shaping the most popular and high-engagement discourse during the Mahsa Amini movement. We analyze 78,088 popular Farsi tweets (>1000 likes) from 10,308 users and examine the political orientations, user types, tweet tones, and content strategies that characterized the movement’s digital discourse. The findings reveal a dynamic interplay of anti-regime, reformist, and pro-regime actors, with diverse engagement patterns ranging from personal storytelling to state-sponsored disinformation campaigns. While anti-regime activists utilized Twitter to mobilize support and amplify dissent, pro-regime entities employed sarcastic and hostile tones to undermine the movement. The study highlights the dual nature of Twitter as both a tool for grassroot resistance and a site for state propaganda and surveillance. This research contributes to understanding digital activism in authoritarian contexts by exploring how Iranian users navigated repression and censorship to sustain momentum. This movement underscores the transformative potential and inherent challenges of social media as a battleground for political resistance and systemic change.