From # ExpelUngratefulAfghans to # ExpellingAfghansIsANationalDemand ; A Comparative Analysis of Digital Xenophobia and Anti‐Migrant Hate Campaigns in Iran and Pakistan

ABSTRACT This paper examines the rise and function of anti‐Afghans immigrant digital movements in Iran and Pakistan, specifically #افغانی_نمک_حراموں_کو_بھگاو (#ExpelUngratefulAfghans) in Pakistan and #اخراج_افغانی_مطالبه_ملی (‘Expelling Afghans is a national demand’) in Iran, focusing on their development and impact from 2023 to 2025. Drawing on a mixed‐methods approach that includes discourse analysis, social network mapping and policy review, the study traces how coordinated hashtag campaigns have constructed Afghan migrants as existential threats to national identity, security and economy. These campaigns—often driven by small but hyperactive networks—do more than reflect public sentiment; they contribute to a discursive climate that may reinforce state‐led deportation drives, legal restrictions and securitized migration policies. By comparing digital hate ecologies in both countries, the study reveals converging patterns of bottom‐up xenophobic mobilization and top‐down amplification by state and media actors. This research offers a rare cross‐national perspective from the Global South on how online xenophobia reshapes migration politics in authoritarian contexts.