Ethnographic study of repression: Exploring collective acts of self-censorship

How does repression function through self-censorship on social media? While scholars have approached self-censorship as an individual act, this study explores the collective dimensions of self-censorship in the context of the 2024 fall of Bangladesh’s authoritarian regime. Based on five months of social media observation, autoethnographic research, and interviews with members of a leftist student organization, this thesis describes the social processes behind the self-imposed repression of social media posts. Participants collectively make sense of what they can safely say, sharing drafts, discussing content, and ultimately editing or completely eliminating their posts. Through an exploration of how the climate of fear in offline life spills over to online life, to produce collective acts of self-censorship, this study explores how repression functions beyond formal censorship, and how social media posts emerge collectively from broader social and political dynamics.