The Critical Online Diasporic Infosphere and Counter-Public Sustenance in an Autocratizing Society
Published in Information, Communication and Society, 2024
Recommended citation: Lee, F. L. F., & Tse, C. H. (2024). The Critical Online Diasporic Infosphere and Counter-Public Sustenance in an Autocratizing Society. Information, Communication and Society, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2430627
This article conceptualizes the critical online diasporic infosphere as an online space constituted by diasporic media, exile media, and overseas-based influencers who share an oppositional orientation toward the home state. The infosphere proffers a constant stream of critical information and perspectives to users in both the diaspora and the home country. Drawing upon theorizations of alternative media and counter-publicity, this study examines the role of the diasporic infosphere in sustaining a counter-public in a home country undergoing rapid autocratization. Analysis of an online survey in Hong Kong shows that a distinction between diasporic information sources and domestic information sources underlies people’s information consumption and sharing via social media. Consumption of diasporic information sources relates to lower levels of political trust, the pro-democracy stance, negative feelings about the contemporary political environment, and perceptions of legal and political risks. Consumption of domestic media sources relates to such variables in the opposite manner.