Kyrgyz Diaspora Online: Understanding Transnational Political Participation

In recent years, social media platforms have become sites of populist propaganda, fake news, bots, and trolls that have influenced public perceptions and the political behaviours of individuals worldwide. At the same time, social media is the primary channel of communication for migrants, connecting them to each other and to their homelands. This chapter investigates how Kyrgyz emigrants engage with virtual communities politically: does cross-border online political participation challenge illiberal institutions or add to their resiliency? The study reveals that while overall political discourse shows signs of susceptibility to populist rhetoric and a preference for strongman leaders, at the same time, the virtual space serves as an arena for emigrants in the diaspora community to exercise political membership and participate in crisis-induced nation-building experience in the homeland.