Memes as Consolidation Tool of the Protest Movement (Evidence from Short Videos on the Social Network TikTok)

Abstract

Internet-memes have already become a habitual element of the new media environment. The majority of scholars focus on humoristic images and their contribution to racist stereotypes and untrust to the political process among internet users. In this paper, we consider how TikTok short videos contribute to protest movement consolidation. Basing on an empirical dataset of 65 videos that broadcast 2020 Khabarovsk protest rallies, the article investigates peculiarities of memes’ structural patterns, functions memes may carry out in the context of the protest movement, and symbolic structures dominating social platform’s space. The authors perform visual analysis of frames focusing on the scope of semiotic and discursive levels of visual interpretation. Due to the fact that TikTok creates pre-political publiс spaces, short videos highlight the necessity of participation in protest rallies, rather than a clarification of demands. Three other notable features of TikTok memes are the lack of attention to political enemies, the combination of populist images and regional symbols, and the general lack of symbolic content.

Acknowledgments. The authors thank Elif Shifi for her appreciable help with data collection.