Communicating Borders: Governments Deterring Asylum Seekers Through Social Media

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Poster Session: Political Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This article analyses a social media campaign aimed at stopping potential asylum seekers from coming to Norway during the refugee crisis in the fall of 2015 The case reveals how communication strategies adapted to the affordances of social media provides governments with revolutionary new tools to access targeted individuals, while also raising vital dilemmas and ethical concerns. To communicate effectively on social media platforms – that is, to influence the behavior of target groups – may collide with basic principles of civil service information such as transparency, correctness and dialogue. Based on an ethnographic case-study methodology, this article provides a rare on the ground study of an evolving strategy to manage migration via social media. The Norwegian campaign, sharing key features with similar campaigns across Europe, shows the challenges involved in communicating with vulnerable groups on social media platforms in particular, and demonstrates the need for more critical investigations of how social media is used by governments in general.

Authors

• Kjersti Thorbjornsrud, Institute of Social Research

• Jan Paul Brekke, Institute of Social Research