Food as Soft Power: Taiwanese Gastrodiplomacy on Social Media and Algorithmic Suppression

2025-11-07

AI Summary

This study investigates how social media algorithms mediate digital gastrodiplomacy in Taiwan, focusing on bubble tea’s circulation on Instagram and its role in national image construction. Employing a mixed-methods approach—integrating large-scale social network analysis (107,000 posts, 300+ million engagements, 2019–2024) with algorithmic auditing—we identify a previously undocumented platform-level intervention. Results show Instagram systematically suppresses visibility of bubble tea posts containing the keyword “Taiwan” by approximately 12×, with acute intensification following the May 2024 inauguration of Taiwan’s regional leader—evidenced by a precipitous decline in engagement metrics. The findings demonstrate that single-symbol gastrodiplomacy is highly vulnerable during geopolitical tensions and establish platform algorithms as a critical, non-state variable shaping soft power projection. This work advances methodological innovation in digital cultural diplomacy research and provides an empirically grounded benchmark for algorithmic governance studies.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Social Networks
• Natural Language Processing: Fact-Checking / Misinformation Detection (NLP Focus)
• Search and Optimization: Algorithm Configuration

Application Category

• Social Networks and Social Media: Media and governance, opinion dynamics, filter bubbles, polarization
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web data quality in the era of algorithmically-generated content
• Responsible Web: Algorithmic accountability and transparency on the web

Abstract

Social media platforms have become pivotal for projecting national identity and soft power in an increasingly digital world. This study examines the digital manifestation of Taiwanese gastrodiplomacy by focusing on bubble tea -- a culturally iconic beverage -- leveraging a dataset comprising 107,169 posts from the popular lifestyle social media platform Instagram. Including 315,279,227 engagements, 4,756,320 comments, and 8,097,260,651 views over five full years (2020-2024), we investigate how social media facilitates discussion about Taiwanese cuisine and contributes to Taiwan's digital soft power. Our analysis reveals that bubble tea consistently emerges as the dominant representation of Taiwanese cuisine across Meta's Instagram channels. However, this dominance also indicates vulnerability in gastrodiplomatic strategy compared to other countries. Additionally, we find evidence that Instagram suppresses bubble tea posts mentioning Taiwan by 1,200% -- roughly a twelve-fold decrease in exposure -- relative to posts without such mentions. Crucially, we observe a significant drop in the number of posts, views, and engagement following Lai's inauguration in May 2024. This study ultimately contributes to understanding how digital platforms can enable or disable gastrodiplomacy, soft power, and cultural diplomacy while highlighting the need for greater algorithmic transparency. By noting Taiwan's bubble tea's digital engagement and footprint, critical insights are brought for nations seeking to leverage soft power through gastronomic means in a politicized digital era and researchers trying to better understand algorithmic suppression.

Problem

• Investigating how social media facilitates Taiwanese gastrodiplomacy through bubble tea representation
• Analyzing algorithmic suppression of Taiwan-related content with 1200% decreased exposure
• Examining digital platform impacts on cultural diplomacy and soft power strategies

Innovation

• Analyzing Instagram data for gastrodiplomacy trends
• Detecting algorithmic suppression of Taiwan-related content
• Measuring engagement drops post-political events