The Duality of Media Actors and Culture: The White Afrikaner Refugee Controversy on YouTube

• In Event: Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 10. YouTube & K-Pop

Abstract

The arrival of White South Africans in the United States in 2025 accelerated the mainstreaming of “white genocide” narratives and triggered controversy over U.S. imperialism. Existing research on frame diffusion online often relies on hashtag-based data collection and models diffusion as interpersonal transmission, overlooking how meanings emerge through repeated reinforcement among heterogeneous actors. This study examines how competing frames surrounding the White Afrikaner refugee controversy circulated and consolidated on YouTube, drawing on a duality of actors and culture perspective. Based on an analysis of video transcripts and channel-frame bipartite networks from 2022 to mid-2025, the findings show that inter-frame networks reveal sustained visibility of both supportive and critical frames over time. Inter-channel networks further indicate that mainstream U.S. channels increasingly occupy central positions in stabilizing dominant frames. Over time, interpretive authority becomes concentrated among U.S. and Global North actors, while South African and other Global South channels remain fragmented at the periphery. Taken together, these findings suggest that frame diffusion on YouTube is structured by competition between White defensive public narratives and institutionally framed discourses within U.S. mainstream media, while voices from marginalized groups remain weakly amplified.

Author

• Jihye Kim, UMass Amherst