Migrants’ Perceptions of the Rejection of their Social Remittances: What Prevents Migrants from Combating Disinformation by Sharing their Perspective from Abroad?

Abstract

This research sets out to analyse which factors hinder the attempts of migrants from Russia to combat disinformation about living in Finland – which represents the ‘West’ – through social remittances. This was looked at from the perspective of a particular case, ‘the child custody’ disinformation dispute. The research finds that migrants do actively try to shape the ideas that their friends and family in Russia have of Finland; part of this happens through discussion of the child custody case. The migrant interviewees had tried to provide information that differed from that provided by the Russian media and officials. However, they had found it difficult to change the perspectives and opinions of their friends and family through social remittances because of the strong foothold that traditional media outlets have in Russia, the perception of a strong East vs West dichotomy and a perceived mistrust of migrants and the things which they report from abroad. The study offers insights into the various factors that constrain the transmission of social remittances.

Keywords

• social remittances
• migrants
• disinformation
• russia
• finland
• child custody