Climate crisis, trolls & billionaires: Twitter as a (re)source for narratives about climate change?

Abstract

In the context of climate change, Saudi Arabia is currently experiencing fundamental transformation processes that affect society, politics and the economy. At the same time, access to field work is becoming increasingly restricted for researchers. In a country where public debates often take place online, social media platforms like Twitter become prominent (re)sources for social science researchers. However, we bear witness to manipulation of debates by trolls, for example, on these platforms. In addition, since Elon Musk acquired the largest shares in Twitter, access to the platform has been increasingly narrowed for researchers as part of restructuring measures on Twitter. This presentation aims to reflect on how social media such as Twitter can serve as source in the Saudi context and what significance they may have.