On December 17, 2010, a Tunisian
street vendor named Mohamed
Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest
police confiscation of his wares and long-
term harassment and humiliation. Within
hours, news of the incident spread throughout
Tunisia and the rest of world through Internet
services such as Twitter and Facebook, and cell
phone networks. Within days, tens of thousands
of Tunisians took to the streets in what they called
the “Jasmine Revolution.” By January, Presi-
dent Ben Ali resigned and fled the country after
23 years in power. In the following weeks and
months, the news of the Tunisian uprising spread
throughout the Arab world, leading hundreds of
thousands of protestors to take on their respec-
tive dictatorships in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Bahrain,
and Yemen, along with smaller protests in other
Arab countries. Called the “Arab Spring,” the
Internet and cell phone–based message services
like Twitter played a critical role in helping young
protestors discover one another, organize, and act
together.