Social Media and Otherness: The Case of #Islamterrorism on TikTok

Abstract

Social media and their participatory characteristics promote the construction of meanings that differ from those emitted by mainstream media outlets, becoming a tool that enables a reconfiguration of the dominant discourses. TikTok offers unique possibilities to confront the neoliberal imaginary and open a space for debate, incorporating political viewpoints and establishing itself as a new communication scenario. Regarding news about jihadism, many researchers have observed that those who practice Islam are classified as a monolithic entity, and this entire religious group is generalized as a threat to modern societies. The main objective of our research is thus to know the discourses used on TikTok to respond to the binomial Islam = terrorism spread by mainstream media and the affordances of this platform used to challenge this misconception. Using the snowball method, a multimodal analysis was conducted by identifying TikTok videos with the hashtags #yihadista, #yihad, and #islamterrorismo (in its English and Spanish versions) to explore the uses of the TikTok platform. The resulting selection criteria included: (a) content related to mainstream media discourses on jihadism, (b) discussion of a topic related to Islam and terrorism, and (c) where the content creator declares him/herself to be a Muslim. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted to provide an enhanced understanding of how the media promote the need to generate a counter-narrative on TikTok. The results reveal that discourses from Muslims that combat Islam = terrorism discourses are constructed within the spiral of the dominant narrative, thus visualizing the negative discourses about Islam.

Intensification of Hate Speech, Based on the Conversation Generated on TikTok during the Escalation of the War in the Middle East in 2023

“…They presented a view of this religion that blurred together the practitioners of the religion and people of Arab ethnicity, regardless of their beliefs, as well as a multitude of cultural characteristics of Asia and North Africa; that is, it plays into a supposed troubled and contentious relationship between East and West (Said 1978). We observed how Muslims as a whole were repeatedly associated with terrorists and Islam was seen as incompatible with respect for human rights, as has been affirmed in research by various authors (Rahman 2022;Said 1978); this coincides with the monolithic representation of Islam as sexist, fanatical, homogeneous, and supportive of terrorism (Civil et al 2023) as, for decades, it has been made out to be in Western media and now also on the social networks that very young audiences frequent (Gómez-Calderón et al 2023).…”

“…Along these lines, Contreras (2022) concludes that the platforms have developed algorithms that create a polarization in society in the political, religious, or ideological spheres-without rules, without clear regulation, or without limits-that, among the youngest, are a breeding ground for lack of respect and intolerance toward the other (the different). Martínez Valerio (2023), in contrast, takes a positive view of some media outlets' work monitoring the content of their TikTok accounts, allowing for a nontoxic conversation, whereas Civil et al (2023) highlight this application as a space for reshaping the dominant hate speech associated with Islam and terrorism.…”