The “Who is Who” of Migration Information Campaigns on Social Media

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article investigates online campaigns targeting potential migrants to inform them about and dissuade them from irregular migration to the EU. By focusing on social media networks, this article traces the different actors who circulate such campaigns online and asks how they relate to each other. Applying social network analysis on three different campaigns on Facebook and Twitter respectively, we analyze both overall network structures across social media platforms and the actor types engaged in sharing campaign content. Based on Critical Border Studies, we suggest that migration information campaigns should be understood as bordering practices, and empirically investigate them in terms of their informal performance of borders. By shedding light on the ways in which informal performance takes place in such campaigns, our article highlights how migration governance actors construct borders in their own interest, and so contributes to shedding light on migration campaigns as one of the most evasive tools in migration governance.