Rebel Lexicons: How Bilibili’s Fragmented Communities Engineer Slang Diffusion

In the context of China’s Internet, the generation and diffusion of online slang are undergoing profound changes as grassroots platforms are asserting an increasingly dominant role in linguistic innovation. This study uses Bilibili as an example to explore the underlying mechanisms through which these emerging centres drive the diffusion of linguistic innovation. Big data analysis is conducted on 66 representative initialisms (e.g., yyds and xswl) circulating in 2021 (source: Tencent). With diversity indexes (Simpson’s indexes) and regression models, this study reveals that (1) Bilibili internal adoption intensity can significantly predict national diffusion scale ( β  = .743). (2) gender innovation diversity ( β  = .274) and cross-community penetration breadth ( β  = .371) are positive drivers of slang diffusion, while interest fragmentation ( β = − .450) hinders diffusion. In summary, Bilibili’s community structure fosters two complementary dynamics: diversity that drives innovation and bridging mechanisms that break down silos, enabling effective bottom-up slang diffusion. The findings challenge the traditional linguistic authority long dominated by official media and provide empirical insight into the shifting distribution of cultural power in the digital age.