Digital Enablement: Social Media in Empowering the Grassroot Environmental Movement of Malaysia

This study examines the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in mobilizing grassroot environmental movements. In recent years, the rise of social media has allowed the community to assume the role of driver without relying on central and formal leadership in people movements. Yet how this new form of technology enables grassroot organizing has remained theoretically obscure. This study provides an in-depth interpretive case study into an environmental movement in Malaysia, where people have rallied against a rare earth refinery plant that is feared would have posed environmental and health risks. By adopting empowerment as a theoretical lens, this paper focuses on understanding how social media empowers the community for grassroot mobilization from different dimensions, thus allowing a grassroot-driven environmental movement. The findings contribute to the literature of ICT-enabled sustainability and digitally empowered grassroot organizing.