Twitter Campaign Against the Swedish Social Services: Between Activism and Emotional Mobilization

Abstract

Across the past year a huge Twitter campaign against the Swedish social services authorities has been launched. A previous study examining Arab Diaspora online platforms in Sweden underlined that the Arab diaspora online community in Sweden was angry and hostile describing alleged abuses of Swedish social benefits. Racialization and discrimination discourses were revealed in the analysis. Racialization appeared in different levels. The “us” and “them” dichotomy appeared during disagreements. Commentators repeatedly noted their difficulties in being considered Swedish and impressions of discrimination as a result. A discussion among diaspora community construct life in Sweden between Utopia and dystopia. The current study aims at looking at the latest crisis with the social services and examine if the twitter movement in this case construct emotional mobilization and if there are other actors who contribute to the escalation abusing the situation of immigrants in Sweden.