Fake accounts, real activism: political faking and user-generated satire as activist intervention

Ferrari, E. (2018) Fake accounts, real activism: political faking and user-generated satire as activist intervention. New Media and Society, 20(6), pp. 2208-2223. (doi: 10.1177/1461444817731918)

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).

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ferrari, Dr Elisabetta
• Authors: Ferrari, E.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: New Media and Society
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 1461-4448
• ISSN (Online): 1461-7315
• Published Online: 21 September 2017
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 SAGE Publications
• First Published: First published in New Media and Society
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher