How Disinformation Fueled the Tunisian Revolution

A rumor about the army’s refusal to repress protesters emboldened the resistance and sowed confusion within the regime

The story we often hear of how the Tunisian Revolution succeeded goes as follows: After weeks of protests, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ordered the head of the army, Gen. Rachid Ammar, to fire on the protesters. Ammar, however, refused, and without the military to defend him Ben Ali fled the country. Ammar was therefore lionized as a hero of the revolution, with the press calling him “the man who said no." But in reality, none of this actually happened. Ammar himself, in his official testimony in April 2011, called it “a false rumor,” explaining that he was never asked to fire on protesters and thus never refused.