Analyzing protest mobilization on Telegram: The case of 2019 Anti-Extradition Bill movement in Hong Kong

Abstract

Online messaging app Telegram has increased in popularity in recent years surpassing Twitter and Snapchat by the number of active monthly users in late 2020. The messenger has also been crucial to protest movements in several countries in 2019-2020, including Belarus, Russia and Hong Kong. Yet, to date only few studies examined online activities on Telegram and none have analyzed the platform with regard to the protest mobilization. In the present study, we address the existing gap by examining Telegram-based activities related to the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. With this paper we aim to provide an example of methodological tools that can be used to study protest mobilization and coordination on Telegram. We also contribute to the research on computational text analysis in Cantonese—one of the low-resource Asian languages,—as well as to the scholarship on Hong Kong protests and research on social media-based protest mobilization in general. For that, we rely on the data collected through Telegram’s API and a combination of network analysis and computational text analysis. We find that the Telegram-based network was cohesive ensuring efficient spread of protest-related information. Content spread through Telegram predominantly concerned discussions of future actions and protest-related on-site information (i.e., police presence in certain areas). We find that the Telegram network was dominated by different actors each month of the observation suggesting the absence of one single leader. Further, traditional protest leaders—those prominent during the 2014 Umbrella Movement,—such as media and civic organisations were less prominent in the network than local communities. Finally, we observe a cooldown in the level of Telegram activity after the enactment of the harsh National Security Law in July 2020. Further investigation is necessary to assess the persistence of this effect in a long-term perspective.

Tolerant Solidarity With Violent Protesters: Evidence From a Survey Experiment

“…Next, to test the effect of protesters’ exposure to solidarity norms on preference falsification, I compare the effect differences between the two outcomes across protesters with different degrees of information consumption. I focus on two online communication platforms, namely LIHKG (a popular Reddit-like Internet discussion forum in Hong Kong) and Telegram, where there were large volumes of movement-related discussion during the Anti-ELAB Movement (Liang and Lee 2021; Urman, Ho and Katz 2021). I divide protesters into two categories: (1) infrequent users who never, seldom, or sometimes used a platform to obtain movement-related information; and (2) frequent users who quite often or very often obtain movement-related information from the platform.…”

Data as a Weapon: The Evolution of Hong Kong Protesters’ Doxing Strategies

“…Telegram, by contrast, is a not-for-profit, encrypted, cloud-based messaging app that combines SMS and email. It distinguishes itself from other platforms such as Facebook and Google by emphasizing its commitment to privacy, and is therefore popular among protesters to share information and organize activities during the Anti-ELAB Movement (Lee et al, 2021; Urman et al, 2021). On Telegram, there are more data tactics-related posts such as teaching people how to “use the data wisely,” “back up data,” “properly submit data by using the template,” “avoid cross-posting,” and “protect data security,” etc.…”

Radical Mobilization in Times of Crisis: Use and Effects of Appeals and Populist Communication Features in Telegram Channels

“…For movements that cannot rely on mass media support or that are (or feel) suppressed by governmental institutions, the use of digital communication channels has become increasingly important for mobilization (Cammaerts, 2021). Among the prominent examples of digital mobilization for street protest are the events around the Arab Spring (Howard & Hussain, 2013) or the pro-democratic protests in Hong Kong (Urman et al, 2021). Social movements for racial equality such as Black Lives Matters heavily rely on social media to mobilize participants, mobilize resources, and amplify their messages (Mundt et al, 2018).…”