Fake accounts, real activism: Political faking and user-generated satire as activist intervention. (June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ferrari, Elisabetta
• Other Names: Kaun Anne guest-editor.; Uldam Julie guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: New media & society. Volume 20:Number 6(2018)
• Page Start: 2208
• Page End: 2223
• Publication Date: 2018-06
• Subjects: Digital activism -- fake -- Italy -- political faking -- satire -- user-generated content; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Internet -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/1461444817731918
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4448

Abstract

In this article, I explore user-generated political satire in Italy by focusing on fake political accounts. By fake accounts, I refer to humorous social media accounts that satirize a politician or a political organization through impersonation. I investigate political faking and user-generated satire as an activist intervention. Through in-depth interviews, I explore the motivations and the relationship with Italian politics of a sample of fake account creators. The results show that most of the satirists interviewed here consider satire as a form of activism and even those who do not, still recognize the subversive nature of satire. Furthermore, a majority of the interviewees have complex biographies of activism that predate the creation of the fake accounts. For a smaller number of them, the fake accounts have also provided new possibilities to engage in activism away-from-keyboard (AFK).