Memetic

The term internets[…]is an example of memetic usage that functions as a high profile in-joke.

But let’s not assume that all of the innuendo and debate is a product of the Russian info-war, or that the Kremlin is a grandmaster of the memetic chessboard.

Within different communities, groups, or dyads, the same memetic media could be deployed as a long-standing community in-joke, dadaist absurdity, or even as fighting words (or images, as the case may be).

Gamergate, “the Fappening” (or Celebgate), and the subsequent Comicsgate are examples of campaigns that deployed active memetic warfare in racialized and gendered ways to attack and drive away a constructed enemy.

Whether the e/accs have the better arguments or not, they seem to have money and memetic energy on their side.