Risk, Technology, and Resistance: The Hong Kong Diaspora Amid Transnational Repression CSCW034

Diasporic Hong Kong communities are increasingly shaped by transnational repression, which is amplified through the sociotechnical systems within which they are embedded. In this context, risk is not merely a condition to be endured but a subjective, relational, and sociotechnical construct that modulates everyday social life and political organizing. Drawing on 11 semi-structured interviews with diasporic organizers in North America, we identify five interrelated forms of perceived risk — reputational harm, “Sam Tau” (滲透), infiltration, state surveillance, and non-state surveillance. These risks reveal how collective vulnerability emerges through both explicit repression and ambient uncertainty. In response, actors engage in boundary work — through gatekeeping, selective participation, and socio-technical vetting practices — to construct digital enclaves, maintain cohesion, and cultivate a risk-aware Hong Kong identity. This paper contributes to CSCW by extending existing scholarship on diasporic social movements, community moderation, and boundary maintenance, offering insights into how sociotechnical infrastructures are leveraged, and must be reimagined, for organizing under conditions of transnational repression.