The protests of December 1996 from the point of view of network society theory

The growth of new communication and information technologies and the formation of a networked society have had major effects on the world life, including the formation of virtual reality. Influenced by the cyber community, the occurrence of protests and riots in November 2017 in a number of cities in Iran, especially small cities, the Iranian official policy space was faced with severe shocks and the formation of the anti-power current had many effects on cyberspace policy. The main question of the article is what effect did virtual social networks have on the November 2017 protests? Applying Castells’s network community theory as well as descriptive-analytical method and using secondary data, the research findings show that social networks in the context of existing dissatisfaction in society and with increasing political activism accelerated and strengthened the protests and riots of November 2017. Overcoming the currents of power, viral spread of rallies, horizontal leadership, spontaneity, were among the influential factors of virtual social networks in intensifying the protests.