Consistent Dominance, Isolated Resonance: Mapping Discursive Power, Intersectional Inequalities, and Counter-Hegemonic Solidarity in the French Twitter Immigration Discourse

The internet is often celebrated as a space where marginalized voices can express themselves, mobilize collective action, and engage in public discourse (Benkler, 2006; Shirky, 2011). Movements like the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter highlight this potential. However, critics argue that digital platforms often reproduce existing power structures, allowing political and media elites to maintain their dominance (Schradie, 2019). This tension between social media's democratizing potential and elite control continues to shape debates on power dynamics in digital spaces.

This study explores how intersectional inequalities, institutional power, and solidarity manifest in migration-related discourse on French Twitter/X. Through a computational analysis of 250,000 users over 18 months (2020–2021), digital ethnography, and in-depth interviews with 45 contributors, we analyze visibility patterns, focusing on how race, class, and religious affiliation affect access to “discursive power” (Jungherr etal, 2022). Our findings show that elite institutional actors dominate visibility on the platform through reinforcing media and political networks. While marginalized groups, particularly young people with experiences of discrimination, occasionally achieve visibility through counter-hegemonic content, their influence is fleeting and rarely gains sustained media or institutional attention.

Intersectional inequalities have a dual effect. They amplify the harassment and violence faced particularly by women, people of color, and Muslims, exacerbating emotional labor of digital engagement. Moreover they affect inequitable access to material resources and time, limiting marginalized users' capacity to maintain visibility. Simultaneously, these same inequalities serve as rallying points for solidarity, enabling users to build counterpublics that challenge dominant narratives (Fraser, 1990; Squires, 2002).

By combining large-scale data analysis with digital ethnography, this study contributes to feminist digital scholarship by examining how digital platforms both reinforce and resist traditional power structures. It underscores the need for more critical exploration of how race, class, and gender inequalities shape visibility and participation in the digital public sphere.