Social media and the protection of refugees

How can Facebook, Twitter, and other social media be used to protect refugees and migrants? Social scientists from the University of Stuttgart addressed this question within the framework of the EU project “Protect” (The right to international protection: a pendulum between globalization and nativization?). The project results will be presented at 

Respect for human rights is one of the central goals of democracies. Wars and displacement, however, continue to pose major challenges to these universal rights, as Russia’s current war in Ukraine or the “refugee crisis” in 2015/16 dramatically demonstrate. In this context, the EU project „Protect“ analyzed the implications that changes in the legal system, governance, and social discourse have on international refugee protection. 

The Department of Computational Social Science at the Institute for Social Sciences at the University of Stuttgart was particularly involved in the analysis of media data. The researchers examined how the European public is structured in social networks such as Facebook and whether it is organized around ideological groups. “The European public is structured by political fault lines that transcend national borders. This means that the much-discussed collective European public is characterized, among other things, by similar political conflicts,” says Chair Holder Prof. Raphael Heiberger. 

Networks have an impact on media relevance

In addition, the Stuttgart social scientists analyzed how agenda setting works in the discourse about migration and refugees on Twitter. It was found that parties, NGOs, and other institutions get more attention on Twitter if they have close ties with organizations in the same sector. “This means that the actual professional networks of an organization have an impact on media relevance,” says Sara Hanke, who is leading the project at the University of Stuttgart. “This has important implications for the social media strategy of organizations that can significantly contribute to the preservation and advancement of the rights of refugees and migrants.” 

Under the leadership of the University of Bergen in Norway, “Protect” was carried out at 11 universities in Europe, Canada, and South Africa. The project was funded with about EUR 3.3 million within the framework of the EU’s “Horizon 2020” program. The scientists developed the tools required to conceive international protection as an action across all levels of policymaking (at the local, regional, national, and supranational levels). Further, they asked which governance models are best suited to uphold the right to international protection. In addition, public discourses were identified that deal with human rights and the right to international protection. The researchers will present the project results at the closing conference in Brussels from March 6 to March 8, 2023. Conference program and registration