RT Journal Article
T1 Social Media and Otherness: The Case of #Islamterrorism on TikTok
A1 Civila de Dios, Sabina
A1 Bonilla del Río, Mónica
A1 Aguaded, José Ignacio
AB 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 observedthat 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.
PB Cogitatio Press
SN 2183–2463
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/21442
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/21442
LA eng
NO This study was supported by the R+D+I Project (2019–2021), entitled Youtubers and Instagrammers: Media Competence in Emerging Prosumers, under code RTI2018–093303‐B‐I00, financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and the R+D+I project (2020–2022) entitled Instagramers and Youtubers for the Transmedia Empowerment of the Andalusian Citizenry. Media literacy of the Instatubers, with code P18‐RT‐756, was financed by the Government of Andalusia in the 2018 call for tenders (Andalusian Plan for Research, Development and Innovation, 2020) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026