Introduction to the special issue: The Platformization of Cancel Culture

Abstract

Cancel culture claims, narratives and practices now play out in predominantly platformed spaces, spanning from progressive publics and accountability practices to reactionary/anti-woke/far right publics. We argue that platform affordances, architectures and cultures serve as a nodal point to bring together a disparate set of practices, discourses and ideological positions to facilitate polarized, reactionary, and or strategic networked publics in the context of digital politics and the (re)emergence of culture wars. Papers within this special issue speak to our argument in varying ways. They explore the mechanisms, sentiments, tolerances, and practices in local and global contexts. They consider how certain practices manifesting as social justice interventions apply to negatively impact marginalized groups, theorize the role of and power of platforms in propelling cancelations, and track the rituals associated with cancel culture on platforms. In doing so we encompass perspectives and case studies from the global majority to inform what has to date been a largely Western area of focus and scholarship.

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