Cultural heritage through the lens of COVID-19

•The digitally mediated heritage practice of hashtag communities is a process of heritage value co-creation.•In times of mass confinement, positive emotions dominate cultural heritage content shared online: resilience, joy, and hope for the future.•Although the online sharing of heritage ought to be inclusive, the geographic distribution of posts highlights the digital divide.•The use of topic modeling techniques enables a comprehensive understanding of the social value of heritage to hashtag communities.