“TikTok refugees”: Motivations and political correlates of international platform migration

This study investigates the motivations and political correlates of large-scale platform migration in a transnational context. While prior research has emphasized social and technological drivers, the political significance of migration remains underexplored. Building on theories of alternative political expression, political and media trust, and political efficacy, this study conceptualizes platform migration as an alternative political expression. Using an online survey of a group of users with sustained adoption of RedNote, we analyze the case of “TikTok refugees,” examining five motivational mechanisms – social influence, platform-use orientation, political expression, cultural openness, and collective identity frames – and a series of political characteristics with migration. The results show that lower political and media trust, lower external efficacy, and higher internal efficacy are significantly associated with affective and perceptual dimensions of migration. In addition, political expression and cultural openness emerge as the strongest motivators, while well-recognized motivations of social influence and platform-use orientation do not show statistically significant correlation. Taken together, the findings highlight platform migration as a complex, multidimensional behavior situated at the intersection of technological change and (geo)political dynamics.