Discipline and Resistance: The Construction of a Digital Home for TikTok Refugees on Xiaohongshu

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Xiong, Xiaoyu, Peng, Yuting, Kwong, Summer, Huang, Anqi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Xiong, Xiaoyu
Peng, Yuting
Kwong, Summer
Huang, Anqi
author_facet Xiong, Xiaoyu
Peng, Yuting
Kwong, Summer
Huang, Anqi
contents This study examines how TikTok refugees moved to Xiaohongshu after TikTok was about to be banned in the United States. It utilizes Foucault's idea of heterotopia to demonstrate how Xiaohongshu became a crisis space for cross-cultural discussions across the Great Firewall. Through Critical Discourse Analysis of 586 user comments, the study reveals how Chinese and international users collaboratively constructed and contested a new online order through language negotiation, identity positioning, and playful platform policing. The findings highlight distinct discursive strategies between domestic and overseas users, reflecting both cultural resistance and adaptation. This research contributes to the understanding of digital migration, heterotopic spaces in social media, and emerging dynamics of cross-cultural discourse during geopolitical crises.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_14465
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Discipline and Resistance: The Construction of a Digital Home for TikTok Refugees on Xiaohongshu
Xiong, Xiaoyu
Peng, Yuting
Kwong, Summer
Huang, Anqi
Social and Information Networks
Computers and Society
This study examines how TikTok refugees moved to Xiaohongshu after TikTok was about to be banned in the United States. It utilizes Foucault's idea of heterotopia to demonstrate how Xiaohongshu became a crisis space for cross-cultural discussions across the Great Firewall. Through Critical Discourse Analysis of 586 user comments, the study reveals how Chinese and international users collaboratively constructed and contested a new online order through language negotiation, identity positioning, and playful platform policing. The findings highlight distinct discursive strategies between domestic and overseas users, reflecting both cultural resistance and adaptation. This research contributes to the understanding of digital migration, heterotopic spaces in social media, and emerging dynamics of cross-cultural discourse during geopolitical crises.
title Discipline and Resistance: The Construction of a Digital Home for TikTok Refugees on Xiaohongshu
topic Social and Information Networks
Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.14465