Digital Geopolitics and Globalization: A Comparative Study of TikTok and K-pop

Abstract

In the context of the deep integration of globalization and digital technology, digital culture has become an important carrier of national soft power competition. This paper takes China's TikTok social platform and South Korea's K-pop culture industry as research objects, and systematically compares the differences between the two in the process of globalisation and the digital geopolitical logic behind them from the perspective of four dimensions: the production body, the path of dissemination, the strategy of cultural adaptation, and the transformation of business models. The study finds that K-pop relies on the government and large brokers to build a highly organised idol economic system, and realises foreign cultural penetration through ‘cultural technology’, while TikTok takes algorithms as the core driving force, and promotes cross-border flow of content through decentralised UGC and platform-led recommendation mechanism, realising a technological platform for cross-border flow of content. K-pop emphasises industry chain integration and fan sentiment economy, while TikTok embodies the Web 2.0 platform value logic of ‘users as products. Although both of them have enhanced the influence of their respective countries in global culture, their dissemination mechanisms and political embeddedness show significant differences, reflecting the different strategic cultural export paths of China and South Korea in the digital geopolitical landscape. This paper aims to provide theoretical support and case references for understanding the national strategy, platform logic and cultural translation in digital culture going overseas.