The war of memes: new turns in information confrontation

Abstract

Among the digital phenomena of political discourse in the XXI century, the Internet meme occupies a special place. It is understood not only as a manifestation of network creativity but also as an artifact of modern culture of participation, a way of public discussion, an instrument of electoral and protest communications. The article analyzes the processes of semantic confrontation of the Runet virus messages, designated as “meme war”, highlights the main types of this confrontation and examines communicative cases of recent years allowing the researchers to draw conclusions about the specifics and technologies of such a “war”.