The Role of Twitter in Shaping the Narrative During the Jamal Khashoggi Murder: Disinformation, Diplomacy, and Digital Power

Abstract

The paper studies how Twitter influenced people’s views on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. It looks at different actors, for example, governments, media companies, activists, and bots, who promoted their narratives with the platform. How Saudi officials used the internet to control the narrative, to spread untruths, and to interact with countries through diplomatic means is emphasized. Three main points in the paper are how Twitter became a part of the international conversation, who spread the impactful messages, and the influence of misinformation on the event’s public understanding. To examine these points, theories like agenda-setting, disinformation, digital diplomacy, and Habermas’s public sphere are used. The study covers the contents and the ways people talk about tweets by reviewing messages from October to December 2018, mainly using the hashtag #JusticeForJamal. It also examines social media messages side-by-side with news articles from well-known groups like The Washington Post, BBC, Al Jazeera, and Arab News. In general, the study reveals that Twitter was an essential place for people globally to react to this major political story.