Pierina Fernanda Erazo Patiño

On TikTok, organized crime in Ecuador appears not only through explicit representations of violence but also through rhythm, repetition, and signs. Lions, wolves, and tigers replace faces, while fire, prayer, music, and sound circulate as codes of belonging. This project examines how organized criminal groups mobilize platform affordances to circulate affect and assemble fleeting digital publics. Drawing on netnography and semiotic analysis, the study traces how affects such as pride, grief, menace, and brotherhood gather users into temporary formations through repetition, imitation, and visibility. Hashtags, emojis and sound groupings function as affective signals that structure attention and recognition across the platform. These affective dynamics generate rhythmic moments of alignment in which collective identities are performed and felt. TikTok is thus approached as a space where emotion operates as infrastructure and visibility becomes a form of power, shaping how organized crime circulates, resonates, and exerts influence within marginalized digital environments.