Digital Society and Togetherness Against Discrimination: Analyzing Reactions in Turkish Tweets on George Floyd Protest

Abstract

This study aims to examine how people react, interact, and come together against discrimination by using social media even if they are in a spatially different location. George Floyd protests spreading around the world are selected as case study for explaining reaction against discrimination on social media. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd died after being arrested by police officers in Minneapolis, United States. After the footage that displays the fatal arresting of George Floyd by police officers had been circulated on social media, street demonstrations were organized. The reaction of people spread through social media networks around the world. Using social movement theories as a theoretical framework and applying a content analysis, this study focuses on the tweets that are written in Turkish under the hashtags related to George Floyd’s death. The data set involves 12 thousand tweets, between May 28 and June 4 (during the first weeks of protests). The results reveal that social media is an essential part of interaction with people and combination of solidarity against discrimination. © Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Berlin 2021.