Cultural Adaptation Through Digital Identities:Privacy and Self-Expression Among Sub-Saharan Student

Abstract

This study investigates how international students from sub-Saharan Africa in Morocco use social media to navigate cultural adaptation by conducting surveys with 64 students and interviews with 10 participants. Our preliminary findings show that students strategically manage their online identities for networking while employing selective sharing and self-censorship to balance self-expression with privacy concerns. These results highlight the need for social media platforms to offer customizable privacy settings and culturally sensitive features to better support the well-being and integration of international students.

Citation

Rafiat Bamimore Akodu, Christianah Titilope Oyewale, Tochukwu Ikwunne, and Houda Elmimouni. 2025. Cultural Adaptation Through Digital Identities: Privacy and Self-Expression Among Sub-Saharan Students in Morocco. In 12th International Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2025), July 20–23, 2025, Siegen, Germany. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3742800.3742831