Journal Article

The Impact of Social Media on Shaping Public Opinion and Legislation about Women Rights in Gulf Countries

Alnaqbi, Nawal Askar, Alblooshi, Sumaya Ali

2025

Overview

Social media is gaining attention as an essential part of life in the dynamic world. An increasing number of social media platforms, along with information technology development, are also bringing an effective way of interaction among people to share information and express ideas. The current study aims to assess the impact of social media on shaping public opinion and legislation about women rights in Gulf countries. This study design integrates a mixed-methods approach, incorporating qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore the impact of social media on public opinion and legislation about women rights in Gulf countries. The research questions are: How does social media influence public opinion in Gulf countries? What role do social media platforms play in shaping legislation in Gulf countries? What are the implications of social media's influence on public opinion and legislation about women rights for future policymaking in Gulf countries? Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram play a vital role in shaping public opinion in most of the Gulf countries due to increased awareness and empowered information of the public. However, state actors can control the public by enriching social media with every type of news regarding women rights legislation, where they can assess the public point of view regarding various perspectives. Social media also plays a strong role in shaping legislation in this way, as the public always acts promptly whenever they observe a change in legislation, which acts as stimuli for governments to make changes or introduce new legislation because of public opinion that is formed through the use of social media.

• Publisher: جامعة القاهرة - كلية الإعلام
• Subject: الإعلام الاجتماعي / المنصات الرقمية / حرية التعبير / قضايا المرأة