TikTok’s Influence on the Pakistani Audience: A Critical Discourse Analysis Using Fairclough’s Model

Abstract

Tik Tok has become among the most powerful social media channels in Pakistan, transforming communication trends, cultural representation and expression in the public, especially on the younger generation. In this work, the impact of TikTok on Pakistani society is critically analysed through the prism of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by Norman Fairclough, and conceptualised as the space of discursive production and negotiation of meaning, identity and power relations. The analysis of the selected Tik Tok videos, created by popular Pakistani creators, cultural performers, social influencers, and institutional media accounts is discussed through the three-dimensional model suggested by Fairclough to analyze the text, discursive, and social practices in Tik Tok (Fairclough, 2016).At the textual level, the analysis is based on linguistic, visual, and semiotic elements like the selection of language, symbolism, music, and expression of affection. The level of discursive practice examines how contents are produced, how algorithmic circulation operates, how audiences interact with them, and how they are visible through the platforms. At the social practice segment, the study contextualises the Tik Tok discussion to a wider socio-cultural, religious, political as well as economic environments in Pakistan.Results show that Tik Tok has a major influence in the process of forming cultural identities, making performative humanitarianism a normal practice, making political communication a short-form spectacle, and commodifying culture and emotion in the age of digital capitalism. Although the platform enables greater exposure to the marginalised voices and other forms of cultural expression, it also recreates the most dominant ideologies by using the algorithmic power and market-based orientations. The paper concludes that Tik Tok operates as an influential discursive institution in modern Pakistan and affects social norms, value system, and forms of social interactions. The study is an addition to the critical media studies, as it shows how CDA theory by Fairclough can be applied to short-form online media in postcolonial societies.