Trollface as a Floating Signifier: Russian Far-Right Usage of Memes in Online Communication

• In Event: Examining Digital Hate and Extremist Discourse

Abstract

The paper addresses Internet memes’ usage in Russian far-right discourse, seeking to evaluate how it corresponds with the basic roles of memes in political communication and the extent to which the Russian far-right memetic vernacular is universally translatable. The paper uses QCA and MCDA of the memes (N=150) published in the “Right-Wing Memes” community on Vkontakte, the most popular social networking platform among Russian users. Image macros can hardly be traced by the counter-hate algorithms. Their usage permits to avoid persecution, and sarcasm allows the perpetrators to deny the malicious intent by pretending to be joking. The Russian far-right fills the floating signifiers of the “left-wing,” “migrants,” and “Russian national state” with relevant meanings through visual ironic humor/sarcasm and parallel comparison, thus constructing in- and out-groups, conveying the ideological message, and giving voice to those excluded from the mainstream. Though effective for constructing in-group narratives, these means are inefficient for reaching a broader audience because the implicit meanings are understandable only to those who are already inside. Although the Russian far-right employs globalized memetic tropes borrowed from Western popular culture, the content is mainly country-specific, which, together with the language barrier, hinders the formation of a universal far-right memetic vernacular.

Author

• Petr Oskolkov, Ariel University / Bar-Ilan University