Background on Social Media Use in Iran and Events Surrounding the 2009 Election

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, social media has become a powerful political tool. Never was this more apparent than during the country’s 2009 presidential election and its aftermath. Following a contentious outcome that returned the far-right conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to office for a second term, social media was used heavily by both sides of a starkly divided political spectrum—at first, by the opposition Green Movement and millions of Iranians who contested Ahmadinejad’s reelection, and then increasingly by the conservative government and other supporters of the official results. Whether to spread information, organize demonstrations, conduct surveillance, or sway public