By- Thu Htet Thar

Across South Asia—from Nepal to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia—a new rhythm of political mobilization has emerged. Local grievances are rapidly transforming into mass movements, and scholars are now describing this speed as digital contagion. While these uprisings are rooted in deep-seated economic hardship and widening inequality, it is the fundamental design of algorithms that is turning isolated anger into regional conflagrations.

How Algorithms Ignite the Fire

The crucial question is how these digital networks act as accelerants, transforming sparks of anger into widespread infernos. The process relies on three interlocking dynamics that accelerate mobilization:

Complex Contagion: Traditional protest required slow organization, but algorithms facilitate complex contagion. Individuals often require multiple exposures from different contacts before they decide to act. In South Asia, successive WhatsApp forwards about trials or repeated posts ridiculing corruption chipped away at hesitation until the collective momentum became irresistible.

Algorithmic Amplification: This is where the core engine of unrest lies. Algorithms are designed by platforms to reward posts that generate engagement. Research indicates that anger-laden content is six times more likely to be shared than neutral material. Videos of police brutality or the lavish lifestyles of political elites spread quickly, while neutral reports struggle for visibility. This highly engaging, anger-driven content dominates feeds, and algorithms compress it into short windows, creating an urgent fear of missing out.

Network Bridges: Algorithms enable narratives to cross borders through bridge ties. Diaspora communities (such as Pakistani communities in Europe) or student unions and YouTube influencers act as connectors, ensuring that strategies and narratives leap from one national context to another, producing regional resonance.

Who Controls the Code and Why? (Profit vs. Power)

This regional crisis forces us to confront the question of control and motivation. The algorithms reshaping fragile democracies are designed by platforms headquartered in Silicon Valley and other global tech hubs.

The primary motivation behind their design is clear: these algorithms are built to maximize engagement, not to manage political fallout. This is fundamentally an economic incentive—the corporate drive to keep users on platforms for longer. However, the unintended consequence of this profit-driven design is profound political instability.

While governments have attempted to exercise control (e.g., Nepal severing access to six major platforms or Pakistan using internet shutdowns to suppress dissent), the core tools of mobilization remain coded into corporate algorithms that reward outrage.

Conclusion

It is essential to recognize that algorithms are merely the accelerant; the hidden fuel of these uprisings remains deep-seated economic vulnerability. Algorithms simply amplify this visible disparity and sense of relative deprivation, convincing people that their limited prospects are unfair compared to the privileges of the political elites.

The selfish and irresponsible choices of profit-driven tech firms have turned their platforms into instruments of social instability. By designing algorithms that prioritize engagement above all else, these companies have knowingly built outrage machines that profit from societal discord. The algorithms' reward system, which champions anger-laden and divisive content, is not an unforeseen consequence—it is the direct result of a business model that values user clicks and ad revenue over the well-being of entire nations.

In conclusion, until societies address the dual pressures of economic hardship and the reckless behavior of tech firms, the potential for the next viral uprising is only a click away. This demands new thinking on corporate responsibility and governance in the digital age, holding these companies accountable for the instability they help create.

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Reference : When Algorithms Ignite Uprisings: The Science Behind South Asia’s Viral Movements by thesciencematters.org