From discontent to action: #quarantinehotel as not just a hashtag

Abstract

This article shows how Twitter users’ discontent with the quarantine hotel regulations in Norway turned into a digital protest. We discuss how the sharing and communication of messages through hashtags on Twitter facilitate the perception of the hashtag as a cultural object that activates a political agenda and perpetuates a digital social movement. This study used a novel approach to explore the significance of the echo chamber of emotions involved in digital protests and introduced stages of digital activism. The paper concludes by arguing that during a protest, the activists employ emotions as self-expressive tools that help them connect the issue at hand to bigger societal issues (structural discrimination and inequalities) and metaphors (prison and criminal behavior). Once this process starts, it further paves the way to reaching out for support, encouraging action from others, and demanding change from the government, as we show via the digital activism framework.