Digital Mobility and Cultural Identity: Moroccan Youth in Virtual Spaces Between the Local and the Global

Abstract

In the context of advancing communication technologies and digital spaces, Moroccan youth are increasingly engaging with concepts of mobility, presenting both opportunities and challenges in a liquid modern digital landscape. While digital identities and mobility have been extensively studied among Western youth, non-Western youth, including those in Morocco, are often viewed through a lens of being “at risk,” which biases objective analysis. This study addresses this gap by examining how digital mobility fosters culturally hybrid identities among Moroccan youth in a globalised world. Methods: An interdisciplinary ethnographic content analysis was conducted on youth digital productions and interactions on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. The study draws on Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of liquid modernity and Stuart Hall’s theory of representation to explore identity formation. Results: Digital mobility enables Moroccan youth to navigate between local cultural influences (Amazigh, Islamic, African, and Arab) and global Western narratives, leading to hybrid identities. Challenges include cultural erosion through practices like Western-style dating shows and sexual freedoms that challenge social norms, potentially widening generational gaps. Opportunities arise from platforms like SAWT, where youth discuss taboo topics, create hybrid cultural artefacts, and engage in glocalisation, enhancing agency and global integration. Conclusions: Digital mobility acts as a catalyst for cultural hybridity, supporting global integration while highlighting the need for addressing accessibility disparities and unsupervised interactions. This framework contributes to digital youth studies by emphasising mobility’s role in identity evolution, advocating for balanced glocality over cultural protectionism or homogenisation.

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

In an ever-evolving world, the digital landscape has penetrated our homes and positioned itself as the contemporary public space par excellence. Exposure to and interaction with global influences imported through digital means are especially significant during youth due to the lasting effects of social interaction on the youth’s identity formation. The digital realm provides young people with innovative tools that allow them to actively form, negotiate, and reshape their identities in a continuous process. Digital tools enable youth to produce authentic expressions and representations of their identities, perspectives, and experiences (Buckingham, 2008). These expressions are instantaneously and widely circulated for others to see, interpret, and react to in a process of constant commodification, which embodies the postmodern view of identity as a dynamic entity cemented and enforced through incessant adaptation to a constantly changing fluid reality. The parameters regulating identity formation naturally differ with the differences related to gender, race, class, and geographical location. Placed between two opposing discourses of cultural protectionism and global cultural membership, Moroccan youth navigate the tumultuous process of identity formation within a digital world both as glorified agents and as manipulated subjects.

Identity formation for Moroccan youth is already a thorny endeavour as they navigate a multitude of religious, social, and cultural influences (Amazigh, Islamic, African, and Arab) while being increasingly exposed to global pulls through digital media (Castells, 2005). Therefore, for Moroccan youth, globalised mobility means the interplay between these specific variables, or identity markers, and the global influences imported from the West via communication technologies driven by capitalistic and consumerist powers. Add to this a social exclusion observed in statistics of unemployment, social participation, quality of services, and political involvement, all of which position Moroccan youth at the margin of their (local) society.

The identity struggles and the performative tasks of either adherence or resistance to social norms are exacerbated by high rates of unemployment propelled by a profound education-unemployment mismatch. The unemployment rate is reported at 13% during the first quarter of 2026 in Morocco by the Haut Commissariat au Plan (HCP), Morocco’s national statistics agency, while it reports the unemployment rate among youth between 15 and 24 at 37.2% during the last third of 2025, and 20% for the population aged between 25 and 34 (HCP, 2026). Of particular concern is the 34% of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET) calculated in 2015, with women’s NEET rate set at 40% and men’s at 14% (SALTO Youth, 2015). Additionally, a World Bank statistic shows that 90% of young Moroccans spend their free time in unstructured activities. It also notes that volunteering activities are extremely scarce, and that only 10 to 15% of young Moroccans participate in youth associations (SALTO Youth, 2015).

In Morocco, as is the case for the rest of the world, definitions of youth differ based on the perspective and on the historical context adopted. For example, the Haut Commissariat au Plan sees youth to be individuals between 15 and 24 (Rhanem, 2015, p. 6), while the Ministry of Youth and Sport used to view youth as individuals between 15 and 29. After relegating youth to another ministry (The Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication), youth has been given a new definition according to which childhood refers to persons between the ages of 7 and 17, and youth encompasses individuals from 18 to 34 (Article 5 of Décret n° 2.21.519, 2022). In the political Moroccan milieu, youth sees its upper boundary rise to 40 years old. This article, however, adopts the classifications advanced by the Haut Commissariat au Plan, as they align with the age limit set by the UN, which defines youth as people between the ages of 15 and 24. The statistics relied upon largely emanate from these two institutions (United Nations, n.d.).

1.2. Literature Review

1.2.1. Identity and Cultural Identity

The scholarly study of identity formation has moved through multiple theoretical traditions across sociology, psychology, and cultural studies. The sociological approach, propelled by Stryker’s (1968) identity theory, delves into identity as a social construct determined and influenced by the individual’s role and interactions within a given society. Conversely, Erikson’s (1968) identity development theory draws on the psychological variables present during life’s cycles to decipher the intricate complexities attached to identity. The interrelation between the two behavioural sciences is apparent in the emergence of the field of Social Psychology and is mirrored in the multitude of theories relating to identity and identity formation that emerged from the intersection of these two fields of study.

The body of work on identity has historically taken two different approaches, rooted in two distinct disciplines. One approach is based in sociology and adopts a macro-social viewpoint, while the other is psychological in nature and attempts to theorise identity from an intrapsychic perspective (Côté & Schwartz, 2002, p. 571). The convergence of these two schools of thought birthed three theoretical approaches to identity: the psycho-social approach, the socio-cultural approach, and the post-structural approach (Ross, 2025, pp. 2–3). According to Varghese et al., these approaches are not wholly separate frameworks, but rather approaches that contain a set of overlapping features (Varghese et al., 2005, p. 23).

The psycho-social approach stems mainly from Eriksonian theory and merges the psychological concept of the self and the sociological focus on social settings. This approach postulates that although an individual may have multiple identities, they all melt into a central identity within which present experiences are interpreted against past experiences. Not unlike the psycho-social approach, the socio-cultural identity approach also merges internal and external factors to theorise identity. However, socio-cultural theory places more emphasis on the social, cultural and historical context of the individual. Following this view, identities are seen as the product of social participation in one’s communities.

Linking self-perception to society in modern academia was instigated by Charles Cooley through his advancement of the concept of “the looking-glass self” in his pioneering work Human Nature and the Social Order (1902). Cooley argues that the self is not a phenomenon isolated from its social context. He states that individuals’ self-perception is principally constructed through interacting with others in a given community and by internalising how the individual imagines other people’s perceptions of them.

Mead (1934) extends Cooley’s reasoning surrounding the effects of interactions in defining oneself to the developmental nature of identity and the interactional function of social exchange in such a development. In other words, one’s awareness of oneself originates from adopting other people’s attitudes towards them within a shared interactional social landscape. Subsequently, Mead (1934) is seen as the father of the Symbolic Interactionism framework: The internalisation of other people’s perspectives and attitudes through interaction as a source of self. Stryker (1968), although adopting Mead’s framework, found fault with Mead’s notion of society as a generalised whole. Stryker introduces the contemporary image of society as a structured and relatively stable set of patterned interactions and relationships, organised, differentiated, and embedded across various groups, communities, organisations, and institutions (Stryker & Burke, 2000, p. 4). Through this modification, Stryker expands on Mead’s symbolic interactionism into structural symbolic interactionism. This framework approaches the effect of social structures as a process whereby macro-social categories such as class, age, gender, and ethnicity function via intermediate structures, namely neighbourhoods, schools, and associational memberships, to shape interactions in social networks (Stryker, 2008, p. 20).

In the social realm, the adoption of roles, group belonging, and the interactions undertaken under the in-group/out-group conceptualisation are not the only factors in developing a social identity. The socio-economic and cultural variables’ effects on a given society are greatly reflected in the identity formation processes of individuals in the said society. Stuart Hall’s theory of cultural identity places great emphasis on these variables as well as on cultural discourses and historical contexts. In Hall’s view of identity, there is no chronological necessity for identity to be accomplished before it is represented. Instead, Hall in Cultural Identity and Diaspora presents identity as a continuous process of formation which is intertwined and simultaneous with representation, as according to Hall, identity is an evolving construct that is never final and is constantly formed within systems of representation (Hall, 1990, p. 222).

Hall presents two distinct conceptualisations of identity. The first refers to a shared cultural base which defines the true “self” or identity, which is central in an individual’s personality makeup, and which is ornamented or covered by the evolving divisions and contingencies of our historical reality (Hall, 1990, p. 223). According to Hall, the creative attempt to rediscover and represent this shared forgotten historical and cultural identity is in itself an act of identity formation. Through representation, a new identity, separate from the shared “oneness” of a people, is formed, not an identity rooted in historicity, but in the re-representation of the past (Hall, 1990, p. 224).

Hall’s second conceptualisation of identity refers to identity as an entity acted upon by historical events of marginalisation and fragmentation. According to this view, the forces exerted by history on the shaping of identity meddle with and change one’s very conception of “self”. This idea is the genesis of Hall’s maxim of “Identity as becoming as well as being” (Hall, 1990, p. 225).

Following the same stream of thought, post-structuralists hold that the existence of a fixed identity is an impossibility. For them, the individual has the liberty to fashion identities in line with the particular context they find themselves in. It should be noted that social scientists from different approaches tend to draw upon and mutually validate each other’s works. In addition, a shared consensus seems to be reached among different theoreticians that identity is more achievable and less ascribed or imposed, especially in contemporary societies. Such a consensus is particularly valid in the wake of the digital conquest of modern societies. The present article draws from these perspectives in order to situate youth identity formation through digital interaction in contemporary societies.

1.2.2. Digital Public Space and Media Affordances

Like its physical counterpart, the digital public sphere is a cultural phenomenon shaped by the structural regulations that control the interactions taking place within it. For these reasons, a ground-up analysis of the nature of the digital public space based on an understanding of the technological and participatory affordances of networked digital media, platform-specific particularities, and the socio-technical dynamics of online interaction is primordial for grasping the modes of identity formation fostered in the digital public space.

According to Boyd (2010) and Enjolras and Steen-Johnsen (2017), the interactive exchange that takes place within the digital public space is regulated by three key affordances controlling users’ participation: Profiles, lists of friends and communication tools.

They argue that users’ profiles are the principal space where interaction is undertaken. Access to this space is controlled by users, with the option of being public or exclusive to friends. One’s list of friends serves as the user’s social network and the imagined audience for their online expression (Enjolras & Steen-Johnsen, 2017, p. 103). As for the communication tools, they range from public, semi-public to private. These communication tools, such as comments, reactions, and reshares, allow for mediated interactions both in the form of one-to-one and many-to-many (Enjolras & Steen-Johnsen, 2017, p. 103).

One must note that digital media affordances are quintessential to new media’s position as a public space, since they constitute the bridge between the technological apparatuses of networked sites and the social interaction they foster. The value of media affordances lies in their enablement of structuring communication without predetermining it. However, networked interactions shaped by media affordances have the potential to influence users’ behaviours and perspectives, while simultaneously bridging the local and the global (Enjolras & Steen-Johnsen, 2017, p. 104).

1.2.3. Globalisation, Cultural Protectionism and Youth Agency

The bridging of the local and global cultural influences creates an arena of debate between advocates of cultural globalisation and adherents of local protectionism. A legitimate perspective of digital mobility and the transcultural friction it entails is a perspective rooted in cultural protectionism and ideological localism, according to which external cultural influences are catalysts of cultural erosion and dissimilation, especially if the influence is Western. According to this perspective, endorsed by different Moroccan scholars like A. Ferrati, digital influences advance a westernised lifestyle where the dilution of local norms and promiscuity are prioritised (Ferrati, 2021, p. 112). This perspective puts great emphasis on the invasive aspect of globalisation as it is seen, above all else, as a source of foreign cultural influences that are proliferated at the expense of local traditions. From this perspective, the circulation of such influences presents great threats to the local social fabric, especially since Ferrati argues that many Moroccan teenagers lack sufficient digital literacy and search skills to navigate online environments safely (Ferrati, 2021, p. 113).

Abdessalam Ferrati argues that similar practices and contents result in the undermining of local values, contortion of local identities, the alienation of young audiences, and other harmful effects. According to this perspective, digitalised global influences trivialise youth’s attachment to the culture of their communities and widen the gap between young people and their families. Although these claims hold merit, this perspective has been criticised for its tendency to interpret digital influence primarily through a lens of cultural erosion, for example, when it claims that digital media has negative effects on all aspects of youth’s life (Ferrati, 2021, p. 110). Manuel Castells reflects on this phenomenon of cultural protectionism and ideological localism, and argues that traditional intellectuals, growing increasingly distant from the contemporary world, which compromises their public status, are especially captious of the advent of the new technological landscape (Castells, 2005, p. 6). In the same vein, Danah Boyd remarks that “moral entrepreneurs” find that inciting fears about children is an efficient tool of capturing public attention (Boyd, 2009, p. 135). Although proponents of cultural protectionism vehemently defend their standpoints and enjoy the endorsement of the dominant discourse in Morocco, they neglect the power residing in digital media, which enables young people to actively produce their own cultural expressions (Best & Kellner, 1997, p. 87). In addition, what may be seen as threats to the locality of identities is in fact an unprecedented opportunity to develop multicultural and hybrid identities which are especially needful for contemporary and future generations, as the pervasive force of globalisation is no longer escapable.

On the other end of the spectrum, we find digital participation and mobility to be a valuable asset for youth in general and Moroccan youth specifically. The opportunities provided by digital media are better articulated in Abdessalam Badre’s article titled “Identity and Modernity from the Moroccan Youth Perspectives” (Badre, 2021). Conversely to Ferrati, the second article places more power in the hands of young Moroccans in their relationship with external influences in the digital realm.

Instead of viewing Moroccan youth as a gullible population easily persuaded and passively subscribing to consumerist powers, in need of adult protection through censorship or control, the question of globalisation and its effects on culture and identity must be posed directly to youth. Instead of treating youth as mere subjects, Badre’s article, for instance, adopts a grounded, reality-based approach that prioritises young people’s opinions, thoughts, and experiences amid globalisation, modernity, and identity formation (Badre, 2021).

Badre remarks that in the modern world, where pluralism is the spirit of the age, global culture is founded on concepts of hybridity, simultaneity, and diversity of ideas, beliefs, and practices (Badre, 2021, p. 8). Drawing from Arjun Appadurai’s vision presented in his seminal work Modernity at Large, Badre views locality as intertwined with the notion of the nation-state, for which the idea of an interconnected beyond geographical borders threatens the very foundation of its being from the perspective of cultural protectionism and ideological localism. Drawing on Appadurai, Badre (2021) posits that the production of locality constitutes a fragile social achievement that requires constant effort to protect (Badre, 2021, p. 9). In its attempt to protect its locality, the nation-state is incessantly engaged in a futile process of policing its borders both physically and culturally. These factors are considered the main agents behind the fears of global cultural influences and the chief catalyst of cultural protectionism in the developing world.

Although opposed to cultural protectionism, Badre does not call for cultural dissimilation. Far from that, building on insights from the Centre of Contemporary Cultural Studies and the Frankfurt school, Badre acknowledges the cultural industry as a system propelled by global capitalism and consumerist agendas, and avows its attempts to ascribe the “global youth” to a planetary interconnected landscape ruled by mass-consumption and cultural homogeneity. In the same view pertaining to counter hegemonic theory, Badre, the CCCS, and the Frankfurt school all believe that subcultures, such as that of working class youth, possess the ability to resist global cultural hegemony and create their own culturally defining productions. The interplay between cultural industry and cultural agency, as is the case with most other phenomena in contemporary times, gains greater dimensions when it migrates to the digital realm. With digital media’s capability to accelerate the global cultural spread of manufactured capitalistic influences, and the infinitely diverse toolkit of authentic expressive and genuine means of cultural production and interaction that it [digital media] provides to youth across all forms of borders, digital public spaces place themselves, paradoxically enough, as hotbeds of global cultural hegemony and of individual cultural agency.

What this perspective does, consciously or unconsciously, is that it adheres to Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding model of communication and his theory of representation, which states that audiences have the power to resist and subvert dominant representations through their own interpretations of messages or information (decoding) and through productions of their own representation (re-encoding) (Hall, 1990).

1.3. Theoretical Framework

Hall’s idea of identity as a dynamic entity that is constantly subject to historical, cultural, social, and economic interference is particularly relevant to the present study of Moroccan youth’s identity formation. His view of identity as fluid and negotiable is especially germane to the present article due to his idea of self-representation as a means of resistance to external, imposed representations propagated by dominant cultural discourses. Such practices mirror Hall’s conceptualisation of identity as continuously shaped and reshaped, as well as representation as a tool of challenging dominant discourses and producing alternative meanings.

Building on Hall’s theory of cultural identity, his theory of representation further explains the mechanisms through which these identities are articulated. According to Hall, representation is an act of meaning-making that gives form to the perceptions and realities of persons and groups. Hall emphasises the Foucauldian media-power interplay and its role in framing cultural narratives, while also viewing representation as both a method of control and a tool of resistance and empowerment. The instances of counter-productions of one’s own representation are, in essence, an enactment of Stuart Hall’s theory of representation, which holds that misrepresented populations can resist and subvert dominant discourses in a process of identity negotiation.

For Hall, the process of receiving messages that are then interpreted and defied or confirmed is at the heart of his encoding/decoding model and reception theory, where reactive creation and distribution of messages signifies the cyclical nature of communication. What I propose, however, is a reimagination of Hall’s reception theory. While Hall posits that “circulation and reception are, indeed, ‘moments’ of the production process in television and are reincorporated, via a number of skewed and structured feedbacks, into the production process itself” (Hall, 1980, p. 130). In the digital realm, the centrality of production means, from a capitalistic (materialistic) point of view, is challenged due to technological advancement and the growing ease of accessibility, which puts even more emphasis on the ability to negotiate prior messages and media productions.

What changed in the wake of digital media is that this perceived feedback transcended the integration of opinions and reactions in the social discussion and collective consciousness, which would then inform message producers in creating subsequent messages, to active creations of representative reactions that confirm, confront, or reject the initial message.

The main difference between Hall’s vision and its reimagination in a digital landscape is the fact that Hall’s traditional view of feedback would clash with the already established social norms that assisted in the creation of the initial message. This course of action would naturally demand a longer time for the reactionary message to be reproduced in subsequent message productions, which would be disseminated in mediatic public discourse (television), if at all. What digital media does is that it at least guarantees a somewhat egalitarian access to message production and circulation. It is, in a sense, a shortcut of significant utility to confrontational, oppositional, and subversive reactions or feedback.

In Heideggerian words, new representations are the limitless possibilities sprouting from the rift created by the tension between concealment (old representations) and revealment (new representations). The new representations, no matter how original, still conceal some aspects that are then revealed by subsequent reactive representations, hence the cyclical and dynamic nature of representation.

The fluctuation of meaning through representation is further complicated in what Zygmunt Bauman labels “Liquid Modernity.” Bauman’s theory of liquid modernity positions the human condition in a uniquely postmodern framework resulting from the “liquefaction” of old social structures. According to Bauman, the feeling of uncertainty in contemporary society stems from the radical melting of structures that once guided individual choices. In comparison to their historical cohorts, youth today possess a greater degree of freedom; however, this freedom is exercised within a liquid social world where traditional patterns and guiding structures are increasingly scarce.

This condition of fluidity is echoed in the works of Manuel Castells, according to whom the Network Society is a social structure based on networks operated by information technologies. In such a society, identities and norms are created and negotiated through digital interaction (Castells, 2005, p. 7). Castells emphasises the possibilities of peer-to-peer interaction within the network society and notes that internet users tend to be more socially and politically active than non-users (Castells, 2005, p. 11).

The reach of contemporary media is of particular cruciality since it has infiltrated both private and public spaces. As a result, young people constantly balance their online and offline identities while being exposed to global cultural influences. The interplay between these spaces contributes to the emergence of hybrid digital public spaces where identity negotiation and representation continuously take place. In this context, fragmentation becomes a defining feature of youth identity, reflecting the broader condition of contemporary digital modernity.

1.4. Conceptualising Digital Mobility

Mobility is a broad term that covers a wide array of meanings. Mobility here is theorised as the ability to transition freely between different cultural settings or backgrounds with the help of a global interconnected network. This represents a novel form of mobility that transcends physical borders, despite the broader global system in which non-Western passports and individuals remain restricted. It is evident that this same global system controls to a large extent the parameters governing this new virtual space; what changed, however, is the emergence of a space where individuals are on an equal footing in terms of ability and freedom to express themselves through representations with high visibility and minimal censorship. Thus, (digital) mobility here refers to transcultural transportability within a global virtual public space that fosters identity-forming mechanisms similar to those available in physical public spaces—ranging from interaction to comparison, and beyond, including digital tools for creation and self-expression. Through exposure to global narratives and opportunities to discuss, reflect upon, and negotiate their identities, this shift in the milieu and form of social interaction significantly modifies the identity formation process of Moroccan youth, steering them toward culturally hybrid identities.

This statement presents two shortcomings: The first issue relates to the disparity of accessibility, as not all Moroccan youth enjoy the same levels of accessibility and digital literacy to navigate the digital realm. The second issue is the “global narratives”, which are more often than not Western-centric due to the power dynamics underlying the asymmetrical cultural flow in virtual spaces. This article places emphasis on the second issue in an attempt to investigate the extent to which external cultural influences may advantage or disadvantage young Moroccans navigating their identities between locality and globalisation.

The central question this paper aims to answer is: What happens to Moroccan youth’s identity when digital spaces allow for movement beyond physical and cultural borders—but still carry traces of inequality and control?

2. Materials and Methods

This study employs an interdisciplinary ethnographic content analysis of youth digital productions and interactions on YouTube and Facebook to fill the gap in the study of Moroccan youth’s digital mobility and its implications on their identities. Building on Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of liquid modernity (Bauman, 2000) and Stuart Hall’s theory of representation (Hall, 1990), the paper explores how multicultural digital participation shapes Moroccan youth identities in a globalised landscape.

Data were collected between April and August 2025, from publicly available media content—videos, comments, and online articles—on YouTube and Facebook. The analysis focuses on specific examples from digital platforms, including content from channels that are widely followed by young Moroccans like KAWALISS, which translates to “behind the scenes” in English from Arabic, and SAWT, meaning “voice”.

The channels in question are chosen on the basis of the themes they tackle and content they produce, which is centred on a debate between young people on issues that are usually ignored in Moroccan society, despite their factual presence in the said society due to their controversial or taboo nature. The issues in question are mainly related to freedom of expression, religious freedoms, bodily freedom, sexual freedoms, and intergenerational discussions and comparisons.

A purposive sampling of 5 videos was selected based on their relevance to themes of identity negotiation, cultural representation, youth participation, and social debate. These themes are of particular relevance due to their centrality in the process of youth identity formation. The analysis followed a deductive approach rooted in principles of ethnographic content analysis, combining thematic analysis of videos with contextual examination of user interactions and comments.

3. Results

Although an all-encompassing discussion of the issue calls for an abstract amalgamation of different intermingled social practices and phenomena, for the sake of representativeness and specificity, 4 long-format videos of Moroccan youth’s digital content on themes relating to the focus of this article are thematically and contextually observed and reported.

3.1. Western Influence in Moroccan Youth Digital Production: The KAWALISS Blind Dating Episode

A major instance of Western influence in Moroccan youth’s digital production, which has recently gained visibility and stirred controversy in the Moroccan digital scene, is a blind dating episode diffused in April of 2024 by the YouTube channel KAWALISS. In this episode, a girl wearing a short skirt selects her date based on their outfits—a concept imported or copied from American channels such as Jubilee, Cut, and Nectar. Beyond the girl’s unconservative dress, the idea of choosing a date in such an open manner, filming the process, and disseminating it on a media platform are unconventional and intrusive behaviours within the Moroccan social fabric. The incompatibility of such practices or behaviours with the social norms in Morocco is manifested in the multitude of articles following the release of the episode, which mirror the high levels of rejection felt in public opinion (Le Matin, 2024; Morocco World News, 2024).

The social opposition to such a production was crowned by an investigation launched by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police into suspicions of violation of public decency and incitement to public immorality through information systems; the backlash was topped off by the eventual pulling down of the said episode from the channel’s account. However, the channel in question (Kawaliss, n.d.) still produces and releases videos centred on dating and non-conjugal romantic relationships.

3.2. Youth Expression on Sensitive Social Issues: The SAWT Channel

Digital platforms provide opportunities for young Moroccans to express and share their experiences and identities. One channel that excels in tackling issues that are not traditionally approached in traditional spaces, especially by youth, is the aptly named YouTube and Facebook channel SAWT. SAWT indeed provides a space for youth to make their voices heard through engaging in discussions about social, political, and cultural issues that are of special significance to young people in Morocco, with videos titled: “Are We on the Same Page: The New Generation vs. The Old Generation”, “Your Voice x My Voice: Virginity in Morocco”, “Affected: Do Today’s Youth Even Want to Get Married?”, “Face to Face: Do Women Experience More Social Pressure Than Men?”, “Recovery Journey from Drug Addiction: Interview”, “Your Voice x My Voice: Have You Ever Been Bullied Because of Your Appearance?”, “Affected: Rap Music in Morocco”, “Who Are We: Someone Against Homosexuality vs. Someone Supporting It”, “Cyberbullying in Morocco”, “Your Voice x My Voice: Is It Okay to Do Whatever I Want with My Body?”, “Your Voice x My Voice: What Are the Marriage Criteria Among Moroccan Youth?”, “Between Us: Sexual Harassment”, “Affected: The Family Code (Mudawana)”, “Deba Daba (Debate now): Muslims vs. Non-Religious Youth (The 2000s Generation)” (SAWT, n.d.).

3.3. Youth Discourses on Gender and Harassment in Digital Public Spaces

This section reports observations of a video by the YouTube channel SAWT, titled “Sexual Harassment in Morocco”. The video in question features a discussion among three young women who address and discuss their experiences and opinions on sexual harassment in public spaces in Morocco. During the discussion, participants considered harassment to range from verbal compliments to physical assault. One participant explicitly addresses the grey area between compliments and behaviours that are clearly abusive, such as unwanted touching.

During the exchange, the three young women discuss differences between men and women when discussing gender relations in public spaces in Morocco. The participants mention how biological differences in strength, for example, affect the social interaction between the two genders, especially in public spaces. The comment section of the video mirrors and expands on the discussion, with spectators sharing and reflecting on their personal experiences of sexual harassment.

3.4. Negotiating Morality, Law, and Freedom in Debates on Consensual Relationships

Regarding the debate of controversial social issues among youth, which is enabled by digital platforms, the YouTube channel SAWT produced a video titled “Deba Daba (Debate Now): Consensual Relationships in Morocco”. The video documents an open discussion that gathers young Moroccan activists, religious commentators, and cultural figures of both genres to discuss consensual sexual relations in Morocco and the criminalisation under Article 490 of the Moroccan Penal Code.

The debate sees participants presenting different views concerning the question of consensual relationships as well as the origins and legitimacy of the laws criminalising them. While some debaters argue that the criminalisation of consensual relationships is a remnant of colonial rule, others advocate for a Moroccan legislation rooted in Islamic teachings and jurisprudence. Other participants adopt a perspective centred around personal freedoms and civil liberties.

In addition, the discussion tackled the social consequences of morality laws, with some speakers highlighting their overproportional impact on women, especially in conservative societies. Other contributors call for a reprioritisation of social issues in public debate, by calling for discussions of socioeconomic concerns such as unemployment and economic hardship, rather than sexual freedoms.

3.5. Bodily Autonomy, Religious Authority, and Identity Negotiation

Another video produced by the SAWT channel titled “Was the Body Entrusted to Us by God and Must We Preserve It?” hosts a debate relating to bodily autonomy, religion and personal freedom. The discussion takes the form of a face-to-face exchange between a religious young man in traditional Moroccan attire and a young Moroccan tattoo artist with multiple visible tattoos. The two participants hold opposing views on the topic of bodily autonomy.

The two participants discuss the concept of freedom and its relation to one’s body. One speaker holds that personal freedom is by definition unlimited unless restricted by specific legal rights. Conversely, the opposing participant argues that human freedom remains constrained by divine law and religious teachings.

Several contemporary practices are mentioned and discussed during the debate, from tattoos to organ donation and cosmetic surgery. Participants refer to these examples while expressing different views on how such practices should be understood in relation to bodily autonomy, religious teachings and social norms.

Similar debates between parties belonging to radically different ideological streams highlight the value of digital platforms and socially aware channels in creating a safe space for exchanging opinions among young people. These platforms provide a middle ground for friendly debate over issues that are usually too taboo for traditional social settings.

4. Discussion

The findings of this study provide empirical insight into how Moroccan youth navigate identity formation within digital environments. While the results highlight different practices of online participation and self-presentation, they also reveal broader patterns related to identity negotiation, representation, and belonging in contemporary digital spaces.

SAWT is an ideal example of digital media’s ability to bring communities together for the purpose of discussing topics that touch their lived experience and that are not necessarily approachable in other social settings. In this sense, digital platforms and the mobility they entail provide a relatively safe space where opinions are shared and compared. Such a process of comparing opinions and perspectives is integral to the formation of their unique perspectives, which in turn inform their self-perceptions, and by extension their identities.

In the digital world, new ways are available to young people to create their own cultural productions that directly express their views, conditions, and experiences. The digital realm thus presents itself as a relatively safe space for debate on social, political, and religious topics, many of which are not discussable in traditional settings due to their controversial or taboo nature. In addition, the integration of external influences into local cultural artefacts results in culturally hybrid artistic creation, which mirrors the contemporary condition of culturally hybrid identities. This is seen in the incorporation of Moroccan Darija, French, Amazigh languages (Tachelhit, Tarifit, Tamazight…) and English in digital content, as well as in musical production, which switches between the three languages aforementioned. The access to a multitude of global influences and global channels of communication fosters youth’s engagement in acts of individual creativity, cultural negotiation, and social interaction; what is more, they adopt global trends in fashion and art to their local cultural heritage in a process of localisation. The newfound access to digital tools further enhances the ability to produce genuine and authentic representations due to the multimodal nature of videos, an ability also seen in youth’s capability to produce filmic productions through accessibility to consumer-grade filming equipment, the rising accessibility to editing software, and the rise in streaming platforms. The access to global opportunities, in the example of remote education, training, and jobs, suggests broader horizons and fosters great possibilities for financial independence.

The relative absence of traditional censorship and social conforming forces present in traditional public spaces enabled young Moroccans occupying the virtual spaces to venture into practices deemed socially unacceptable. An example of this phenomenon can be observed in the appearance of online adult novelty stores—a phenomenon that places itself on the spectrum of sexual freedom, but one which is contrary to the conservative nature of Moroccan society. In terms of sexual digital practices, apart from the consumption of adult content, some young Moroccans even started filming homemade adult content, a practice that is a more progressive demonstration of sexual freedom, but one that is even more incompatible with the social norms underlying Moroccan society. This is, in turn, an indirect result of digital interaction beyond traditional gendered spaces, which gradually led to behaviours that challenge the established socio-cultural norms. In the same thread of practices relating to sexuality, one can observe that LGBTQ+ individuals are using digital platforms to gain visibility for their identities and perspectives, a visibility that is met with discretion in traditional settings. These said practices, among others, may be testaments of rising levels of personal freedom, yet they are a clear, gradual rupture from the traditional Moroccan values regulating social interactions and behaviours.

In this context, the interactions undertaken between the different constituents of society greatly affect their behaviours, perspectives, experiences, and, by extension, their identities. This is the main premise underlying the symbolic interactionism theory (Cooley, 1902; Mead, 1934; Stryker, 1980).

In this regard, Hall’s view, proposed in his seminal work “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” holds that identity is a continuous process of formation which is intertwined with lived experiences and representations of these experiences (Hall, 1990, p. 222). On the other hand, Bauman’s concept of fluidity helps us understand how digital mobility dissolves rigid identity structures, allowing for continuous renegotiation. Hall’s framework, meanwhile, enables an exploration of how Moroccan youth engage in meaning-making processes, shaping their identities through representation in digital spaces. The interplay between local cultural elements and global digital influences fosters a new form of hybridity, often referred to as glocalisation.

5. Conclusions

In conclusion, the identity of Moroccan youth is shaped by a complex interplay of global media influences and digital tools that allow young Moroccans to express and reshape their opinions, worldviews, and self-perceptions. While global media can lead to cultural disaffection, Moroccan youth also use digital platforms to innovate and redefine their cultural expressions. By examining a handful of examples that locate young Moroccans between global cultural pulls and local cultural anchors, the present article hopes to contribute to the scholarly debate on young Moroccans’ identity formation in digital spaces. By adopting an inclusive analytical framework that takes into consideration the globalised nature of the world, the socio-economic condition of young people, and the factors intervening in the conception of a cultural identity, we can better understand how Moroccan youth navigate their identities in an era of cultural flux.

What results from the interplay between culture and globalisation, in the newfound absence of traditional boundaries in the post-modern digital world, is a revisiting of Hall’s cultural hybridity, which takes the new form of glocalisation. Such a cultural hybridity is epitomised in Moroccan youth navigating and combining local traditions with global influences in digital spaces. For instance, the integration of Darija, French, and English in their social media content demonstrates the fluid and dynamic nature of identity, which is continuously shaped by historical and cultural contexts. The behaviours, choices, and practices of Moroccan youth in digital media crystallise their grappling with social pressures and their navigation of the tensions between tradition and modernity, as they indulge in discussions on social norms, religion, and political issues. In accordance with Berger and Huntington’s argument, this article posits that cultural globalisation is neither a single promise nor a single great threat, and that it is, au fond, a continuation of the modernisation process (Berger & Huntington, 2002).

Future research should focus on the mechanisms that enable agency and ensure equal accessibility so that all Moroccan youth, regardless of class, gender, or background, can engage in this cultural negotiation on their own terms. Moroccan youth identity is not being erased by globalisation but is evolving in complex, multidimensional ways, and the challenge is to support youth’s ability to shape this evolution. What we shall seek is not the obliteration of the global or the local but rather work towards a state of glocality that successfully balances between global cultural influences and locally grounded identities.