Affective economies of racism on social media

Abstract

New media technologies and social networks have not only opened up spaces for civic engagementand democratic participation, but have also offered alternative sites for the proliferation andcirculation of racist, homophobic and xenophobic sentiment. This article draws on Ahmed’s ideaof “affective economies” and Ekman’s (2019) notion of “affective publics” to investigate how whitesupremacist groups in South Africa have used social media to express racist views, attitudes andsentiments. The internet in general and social networks in particular are based on a libertarianlogic that emphasises freedom of speech at the expense of the rights of minorities whose viewsmay not meet the required algorithmic thresholds of specific social media sites. While governmentsaround the world have put in place laws to deal with overt racism and hate speech, online platformsremain new battlegrounds for the articulation of racist views and sentiments. The findings of thestudy show that white supremacist groups in South Africa use social media as a platform to recontextualiseand re-mediate topical issues in South African society and ramp up group solidarityby circulating racist views that undermine and de-legitimise the ruling party (the African NationalCongress) and its policies.