Justice for @birdy: Queer counterpublics on Chinese TikTok (Douyin)

This study investigates the queer counterpublics on Douyin that call for social justice on LGBTQ rights. By revealing Douyin’s affective affordances to produce queer counterpublics through censorship, we propose a framework that explains how queer counterpublics navigate user–state tensions and balance affect with strategy in a dynamic discursive space. Based on our large-scale Douyin video dataset, we analyze 102,031 videos from 90,901 accounts by combining computational and qualitative methods. By employing computer vision and content analysis, we uncover the multimodal features and strategies calling for justice in those videos. We also show how non-influencers, influencers, and official accounts adopt distinct strategies and how these strategies are associated with user engagement. Further multimodal discourse analysis examines three key counter discourses, including maximum visibility, limited anger, and infinite hope. This study contributes to the understanding of queer counterpublics in China and the potential of short video platforms like Douyin to foster social change.