Migrant activism in digital platforms supporting far-right and anti-immigration policies

• Grant number: 24/20729-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications - Theory of Communication
• Principal Investigator: Denise Maria Cogo
• Grantee: Denise Maria Cogo
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Paulo
• Associated researchers: Amparo Huertas Bailén ; Camila Escudero ; julia faria camargo ; Luiz Peres Neto ; Sofia Cavalcanti Zanforlin

Abstract

The last report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), published in 2022, highlights the new connections between migration and digital technologies, raising awareness towards the significant increase of far-right activism on social media platforms that aims to influence the public debate and also the political decisions around migration in different countries. Within the cornerstone of these connections, this projects aims to understand the relationship between political activism of transnational migrants, digital platforms and far-right movements and political parties in three national contexts - Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands - in the perspective of analysing how migrant activists are mobilized in support towards far-right policies (such as gender ideology anti-globalism, Arms race, scientific and climactic negationism, anti-communism, religion) and anti-immigration agenda. Transnational migration are approached as a social, cultural and political phenomenon that has been central in the mobilization of affection that conform the processes of political polarization in the context of digital platforms. Our methodology includes ethnographic observations, and qualitative content analysis of digital platforms (X, Tik Tok and Youtube) and messaging apps (WhatsApp and Telegram) as well as interviews with migrants and migrant influencers in Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands. The theoretical background was built in the interface between migrant activism, digital platforms and far-right policies. Additionally, the project takes on an applied approach through the development of a set of actions of capacitation and scientific promotion that promote literacies for the global citizenship guided towards action in the context of migratory public policies and communication policies, as well as migrant and non-migrant communicators, in the context of the state of São Paulo and the Brazil-Venezuela border. (AU)