Visual accountability in transnational border policing: Frontex’s use of X (formerly Twitter) to visualize the boundaries of its account-ability at sea

This paper examines how visual communication is becoming a key aspect of migration governance, particularly in shaping accountability within border policing. Focusing on Frontex, the European Union’s Border and Coast Guard agency, this study analyses how the agency uses images on X (formerly Twitter) to define its ‘account ability,’ signalling its competence and responsibilities. Through a visual intertextual approach, which considers both images and accompanying text, the paper analyses a collection of 393 images from 323 posts between 2015 and 2021 of Frontex’s work at sea. Using PixPlot to create clusters similar images, followed by further selection and creation of montage of images, the paper reveals how Frontex uses visuals to establish the boundaries of its accountability in border policing. The paper presents two case studies, one of its images in relation to search and rescue, and the other of its crime fighting prowess, to examine how Frontex’s images on X work as a form of visual governance in migration.