Ilo Alexandre, CICANT-Lusófona researcher, is coauthor of the article “Not My Team”: Analyzing Tweets About Iranian Protests During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, published in the prestigious International Journal of Sport Communication, a Q1 journal in Communication. The paper employs innovative methods, including biterm topic modeling and sentiment analysis, to examine how Twitter amplified voices of dissent during a mega-sporting event, shedding light on the role of social media in highlighting human rights concerns amid global sports competitions.
The study provides a detailed analysis of Twitter conversations surrounding Iran’s participation in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The article examines the aftermath of Mahsa Amini’s tragic killing in September 2022, which ignited widespread protests across Iran and beyond, and tracks how these protests resonated on global social media platforms during the tournament.
The publication is available here: https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2025-0037.