From Fandom to Frontline: The Case of K-Pop and Strategies of Countering a Countermovement

This paper examines the mobilization strategies of K-pop fans on Twitter within the context of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Drawing on a dataset from January 2020 to December 2021, it investigates how K-pop fans leverage their online presence to counter anti-BLM narratives (#WhiteLivesMatter, #AllLivesMatter, #PoliceLivesMatter) and actively support social justice initiatives. By framing the collective actions of K-pop fans as an online social movement, this paper aims to analyze the strategies, intersectionalities, and group dynamics within this form of activism. Employing network analysis, natural language processing (NLP) methods, and extensive labeling of the dataset, this study identifies key tactics utilized by K-pop fans to combat racist content and amplify the BLM movement. These tactics include hashtag flooding with K-pop content, leveraging cultural symbols, and coordinating fundraising efforts, among others. Unlike other online social movements, this low-cost, high-impact activism effectively disrupts countermovement narratives while amplifying social justice efforts. A unique aspect of this research lies in the comprehensive manual labeling of the dataset, allowing for a deeper understanding of intersectionalities and in-group dynamics and tactics. This labeling process, combined with methods like N-gram and Top2Vec modeling, sheds light on how K-pop fans construct narratives and mobilize their collective power. Network analysis further enhances this understanding by mapping hashtag co-occurrence patterns, revealing the internal structures and strategies within the movement. Additionally, by examining the proportion of K-pop-related tweets within countermovement hashtags, this study evaluates the impact and reach of K-pop activism in disrupting racist discourses. K-pop fans have distinguished themselves through diverse actions, including raising approximately $2 million for the BLM Foundation and flooding anti-BLM hashtags with audiovisual content of their favorite idols to drown out oppositional narratives. Their efforts extend beyond online spaces, influencing offline outcomes such as voter mobilization and donations. Grounded in political process theory and self-organizing network frameworks, this research explores the intersection of pop culture and activism to show how K-pop fans employ non-contentious, decentralized tactics to address systemic issues like police brutality and racism. The strategic use of cultural symbols, such as K-pop imagery and motivational frames, demonstrates innovative methods of advocacy and coalition-building in digital spaces. This study highlights the unconventional tactics and strategies of this low-cost, high-impact form of collective action. By integrating detailed network analysis, NLP models, and manual data labeling, it offers significant findings about the anatomy of K-pop fan activism and its role in shaping digital-age activism. Through this lens, K-pop fans redefine the boundaries of activism, and provide a noteworthy case for the evolving role of digital platforms in global social movements.