Digital Networking Among Thai Bar Girl Brokers: Navigating the Infrastructure of Mobility and the Circulation of Affect

This study investigates interconnectivity between Thai bar girl brokers and prospective migrants on TikTok. Content analysis elucidates that these brokers expanded their roles from conventional job-matching agents to multifunctional intermediaries. Visa-exempt schemes, language student and tourist visas, and sponsorship were advertised as informal pathways of mobility to Taiwan and Malaysia, assisting prospective migrants in navigating porous border crossings. Furthermore, brokers strategically circulated positive affect via narratives of home-like intimacy and luxurious lifestyles. The former positions brokers as maternal figures who exert hierarchical authority over migrants, while the latter serves as an affective inducement conditioning migrants’ decision to migrate.