Fight Fire with Fire: Hacktivists' Take on Social Media Misinformation
summary
Researchers interview 22 prominent hacktivists and report concrete practices and preferences: none welcome the weaponization of trolling and memes, many recommend deplatforming the "misinformers" and doxing their funding and recruitment, a subset actively assists targeted hacking or leak operations, and most pair offensive tactics with public measures like misinformation literacy in schools and hybrid responses involving psychologists. Interviews average about an hour and participants emphasize do no harm limits and ethical tradeoffs.
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chapters (6)
- 0:00Introduction to misinformation and hacker ethics
- 3:02State actors hijack tactics
- 5:51Activist responses study
- 8:42Education vs hybrid responses
- 10:30Future of hashtag activism
- 11:15Q&A
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