Social media and role specialisations in Oromo Protests, Ethiopia: implications of digital inequalities in political protests

ABSTRACT Even though Ethiopia is one of the world’s least connected countries, social media played a critical factor in the Oromo Protests (2015–2020). Understanding this contradiction requires a look beyond the offline protest actors on the ground and street rallies and investigating non-territorial online actors participating in social media mobilisation. These interactions highlight developments in communication technologies and the flow of information from the high to low technologically dense spaces – reflecting trends of digital inequalities. In the Oromo Protests, unequal access to social media and internet created hierarchical relations and divisions of labour among the offline and online political actors. This paper argues that differentiated functions by protest actors are not solely based on individuals’ choices; they are (re)produced by socio-economic status and digital inequalities. The finding suggests that these factors are instrumental in role specialisations and defining hierarchical relationships among actors supposedly working together within one protest community.