The practices of social media usage in regard to freedom of thought and expression: The case of Turkish and Syrian students

Freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental rights granted to individuals in democratic states. Today, individuals reflect their emotion and opinion through social media. Therefore, an official restriction in regard to social media is mostly associated with an aggression to freedom of expression. Social media is also used as a tool by malicious people to threat security of a state through social movements or to mislead society. This research analyses the habits of social media usage of Syrian refugee students who immigrated Turkey due to the civil war, and Turkish students with regards to freedom of thought and expression through the survey method. The sample of the research is undergraduate students at Adıyaman University. At the end of the thesis, the findings of the research are evaluated and several suggestions are made for further research.