Abstract
<p>This study inquired into the reproduction of banal digital nationalism on the algorithmically curated short-form video feeds. Rather than emphasizing overt nationalist content, I explored how situated, everyday user–platform interactions reproduce banal forms of nationalist ideology. Through digital diaries and post-hoc semi-structured interviews with Romanian users the analysis was attentive at the entanglement of social, affective and technological structures which habitually reinforce the physical and symbolic borders inherent in nationhood. Algorithmic “re-personalization” and “spacetimemattering” through memes, ads and nostalgic content were identified as forms of routine national (re-)production and normalization on the feed, users becoming oriented towards the nation and their being part of it beyond specific ideational contents. By focusing on an underexplored Eastern European context, the study contributes to research on digital nationalism while demonstrating the utility of new materialist sensibilities for investigating banal digital nationalism.</p>