Back in 2022, protests in Iran were bolder than at any time since the 1979 revolution — and that time, it was teenage girls leading the way. Gen Z used their TikTok and Instagram skills to draw the world’s attention to their demand for freedom. But with almost 300 hashtags under #MahsaAmini, their movement was also being co‑opted for others’ purposes. How could anyone tell which was which?

This is a story from the archives. It originally aired on October 19, 2022. None of the dates, titles or other references from that time has been changed.

In this episode:

Holly Dagres (@HDagres), The Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow & MENASource and IranSource Editor
Marc Owen Jones (@MarcOwenJones), Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies, Hamad bin Khalifa University

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Amy Walters with Negin Owliaei, Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ruby Zaman, Ashish Malhotra and our guest host, Halla Moheiddeen.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St. Clair mixed this episode. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad Al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is the Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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Remembering 2022: Iran’s Gen Z army and hashtag wars

The Take

Remembering 2022: Iran’s Gen Z army and hashtag wars