The Tunisian uprising was sparked by Mohamed Bouazizi 's death by self - immolation . Nevertheless , videos showing Bouazizi 's burning body and the clashes immediately starting circulating on the web . Videos showing Mohamed 's dead body circulated the web . Lina Ben Ali posted online what she saw of the revolution , it was spontaneously shared . But she says the internet was only one link in a chain of factors which led to the revolution .
The Tunisian uprising was sparked by Mohamed Bouazizi 's death by self - immolation . Videos showing Mohamed 's dead body circulated the web . Lina Ben Ali posted online what she saw of the revolution , it was spontaneously shared . But she says the internet was only one link in a chain of factors which led to the revolution .