“On WhatsApp I say what I want”: Messaging apps, diaspora communities, and networked counterpublics in the United States

Abstract

Critical scholars have assessed conceptualizations of “the public sphere” with a focus on contestation and plurality for several years. Recent studies comment on how specific social media platforms lend themselves to the creation of networked (counter)publics. This study advances related understandings by outlining how diaspora communities in the United States use encrypted messaging apps (EMAs) to create networked counterpublics. We leverage data from 71 interviews with diaspora community members alongside conceptualizations from Fraser, Squires, Baym, and boyd. We outline how these digital groups are veiled from the wider public by design, language, and perception. We explain how they rely on humor and multimediality for the interpretation of political developments. This is critical to hypothesis generation and future work, as the inherent subversiveness of encrypted communication could nurture potentials for democratic inclusiveness against the backdrop of multiplicity.