design flexible methods of data analysis. Therefore, it is crucial to understand that the search with keywords must constitute an entry point, a way of channelling the data, but should not be established as a system that restricts access to relevant information. Keyword lists and search scopes should not be seen as fixed; they must be conceived as open to the interconnected network of online documents. Likewise, the spatial and chronological closures, and the cultural, national, and ethnic dominions described in this research, are illustrative only if they incorporate possibilities of transformation and mobility and include the diverse levels of analysis that highlight the complexity of the system. As Blommaert and Rampton (2011) suggest, an inquiry into this complexity needs an analysis of the political and historical foundations of language policies active in a given realm.

3. Findings

The initial stage of research led to several interesting discoveries. First of all, Facebook groups mobilised around Spanish from an institutional framework during the period studied here are articulated transnationally and are not part of projects aimed at the Chilean sphere.

This was to some extent expected considering that Spanish is a language with a transnational scope. What is unique, however, is the omission on the part of traditional academic institutions when establishing digital spaces in Chile. It was expected to find communities or Facebook pages managed by public or private universities, and that ministries, other governmental organisations or educational institutions would engage in language policies, which did not happen. Notably, the Academia Chilena de la Lengua (‘Chilean Academy of Language’) did not maintain spaces on the social network in the period studied. Only at the beginning of 2020, the Academy started a Twitter account and a Facebook page, which by June of the same year had not reached 100 followers. The occasions when the Chilean Academy had been mentioned on Facebook were at the initiative of ASALE or the Real Academia Española (‘Royal Spanish Academy’), which have been in charge of highly active accounts on the social network. This is consistent with the predominant language regime, according to which linguistic authority is assigned to transnational irradiation of a pan-Hispanic order (Del Valle, 2007; Lauria, 2017). The organisations in charge of this authority have tried to establish digital spaces that support and perpetuate this irradiation, which consist of Facebook communities and pages with a wide base of followers worldwide. The Real Academia Española (RAE) page had received 330,000 “likes” on Facebook in July 2019. Fundéu or Fundación Español Urgente (‘Urgent Spanish Foundation’), a private organisation dedicated to promoting the language norm, with logistical and political support from RAE, had 100,000 followers by the same date. The Instituto Cervantes, an organisation that promotes the teaching of the Spanish language in the international context, dependent on the Spanish government, counted on 67,000 “likes”. On the other hand, the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (ASALE, ‘Association of Academies of the Spanish Language’), which includes all the Spanish language academies in the world, summoned only 5,200 “likes”, in contrast to the visible popularity of RAE and Fundéu. This configuration reflects the hegemonic strength of institutions dedicated to the production of metadiscursive regimes, where the management of the Spanish language is firmly institutionalised on a global scale, in a geopolitical order where Spain continues to lead and Latin