Tuesday , May 12 2026

Arab Media & Society

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Call for Papers

Arab Media & Society invites original research examining media and communication in the Arab world. We welcome submissions on a rolling basis and for themed special issues.

Issue 41, Winter/Spring 2026 on “Media and Platformization”

Digital platforms have moved from being “channels” for communication to becoming infrastructures that organize cultural production, economic exchange, and political life. Across the Arab region, this shift is visible in how news circulates through Meta-owned ecosystems and social media logics; how audiences are measured, targeted, and monetized; how creators and influencers professionalize “platform-native” work.

Importantly, platformization has not replaced the Arab public sphere so much as reworked and expanded it. Public debate historically anchored in legacy media institutions, political elites, and state–market arrangements increasingly operates through a networked sphere: a dense ecology of sharing, forwarding, hashtagging, influencer mediation, and platform governance.

This special issue invites theoretically informed and empirically grounded work that explains how platformization is transforming Arab media and society and how Arab cases can refine global theorizing on platform power, governance, labor, and public culture.

Issue41
Submission Deadline: 15 June 2026Call For Papers

Media and Platformization

We invite original research exploring how Arab media institutions construct, contest, and circulate historical memory across digital and traditional platforms. Interdisciplinary approaches drawing on media studies, history, and cultural theory are especially welcome.

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Research Areas

Suggested themes and topics

Submissions may address (but are not limited to):

1) Platformized public spheres and networked discourse

  • Networked publics, connective action, and shifting forms of authority and legitimacy
  • Platform logics and the transformation of attention (e.g., virality, outrage, humor, and affective publics) [Papacharissi 2015]
  • Public–private boundaries: how semi-private messaging (WhatsApp/Telegram) reshapes “public” debate and infrastructures

2) Platformization of entertainment and popular culture

  • Platform-native entertainment industries: short video, streaming, gaming, and music ecosystems
  • Celebrity/influencer cultures and “creator businesses” in Arab contexts
  • Language, dialects, and cultural specificity in algorithmic recommendations
  • Monetization, sponsorship, and the politics of visibility for creators

3) Platformization of political discourse

  • Political talk under platform governance: moderation, deliberation, demobilization, and takedowns [Gillespie 2018, Roberts 2019]
  • Election communication, political marketing, and coordinated influence
  • Polarization, harassment, and online “counter-publics”
  • Platform infrastructures and authoritarian resilience or contention dynamics [Howard and Hussain 2013, Tufekci 2017]

4) Platformization of socio-cultural issues

  • Gender norms, family, youth cultures, and moral negotiation online
  • Religion, secularism narratives, and identity politics in algorithmic environments
  • Diasporic networked publics and cross-border cultural debate
  • Digital intimacy, self-presentation, and reputational risk

5) Activism, NGOs, and civil society in the platform society

  • NGO communication, fundraising, and advocacy under algorithmic visibility constraints
  • Hashtag activism and connective action: opportunities and limits [Bennett and Segerberg 2013]
  • Safety, surveillance, and risk management for activists and human rights organizations
  • Platform-reliant society, deplatforming, and the precariousness of civic/movement infrastructure

6) Platformized geopolitics, war, and crisis discourse

  • How platforms shape Arab publics’ views on wars, occupations, and regional conflicts
  • Platform governance and the politics of evidence (image, metadata, authenticity, and verification)
  • Disinformation, propaganda, and cross-border information operations
  • Arabic-language moderation in conflict contexts and differential treatment across languages [Reuters 2024]

7) Platform governance, moderation, and language politics

  • Arabic dialects, classifier performance, and moderation error
  • Appeals, enforcement consistency, and transparency in Arabic contexts
  • Content moderation labor and the political economy of “invisible governance” [Roberts 2019]

8) AI, synthetic media, and the next stage of platformization

  • Generative AI in content production and political persuasion
  • Deepfakes, synthetic influencers, and credibility contests
  • AI-assisted verification vs. AI-assisted manipulation

9) Methods and research designs

  • Digital ethnography, creator diaries, and NGO fieldwork under risk
  • Governance tracing, platform/interface analysis, and policy analysis
  • Computational approaches (networks, trace data, engagement distributions) with clear limitations
  • Comparative cross-platform studies (Meta–TikTok–X–YouTube–messaging apps)

The above list is a non-exhaustive set of suggested areas of research. We welcome contributions that explore other dimensions related to media and geopolitics in the Arab region.

Submission guidelines

All submissions must be in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx), adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, and have a maximum word length of 10,000 words (including footnotes and citations). Please include the author’s name (as it should be published), their position and affiliation, ORCID iD, and a brief abstract of no more than 150 words.

Deadline for Full Papers:

April 15, 2026 for submissions.

Please email all submissions to editor@arabmediasociety.com. For further information regarding our publishing policies, kindly visit www.arabmediasociety.com/publishing-policies/

Contact Information:

For any inquiries regarding the call for papers, please contact editor@arabmediasociety.com

Thank you for your interest and support of Arab Media & Society. We look forward to your contributions in this timely and important issue.

Special Issue

Now OpenSubmission Deadline: September 30, 2026

Special Issue: AI, Algorithmic Media, and the Future of Arab Journalism

Arab Media & Society is preparing a special issue exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, algorithmic decision-making, and journalism practice across the Arab world. We invite original research, critical essays, and case studies examining how AI tools are reshaping newsrooms, content production, audience engagement, and editorial ethics in the region. Contributions from both established scholars and emerging researchers are welcome.

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