Digital vigilantism: Performance versus reality?

Abstract

The article continues the series of publications by the research team devoted to the introduction of the “digital vigilantism” concept into Russian academic discourse. The authors examine the subjects and actors of public governance in the digital world, sovereignty of the vigilante movement, organizational structures of groups, social practices, values, aesthetics and stylistics of actions, mythology and discourse of online vigilante communities. The interdisciplinary character of this research is manifested in the fact that not only issues of public politics and social philosophy, but also culture studies, ethics, sociolinguistics and aesthetics are taken into consideration. As revealed by the authors of the study, the nature of digital Russian vigilantism as a notable civil society phenomenon is ambivalent. On the one hand, it can be viewed as a response to the limited management abilities of public institutions in a changed communication environment, compensating their inability to work with civil society, yet on the other hand, such activist groups can also demonstrate deviant behavior online and even claim to exercise violence, challenging the state monopoly. The purpose of the research team was identifying the ability of vigilante groups to shape and articulate public values, form public strategies to defend the interests of civil society, and influence other civil society institutions by imposing their worldview on them. An analysis of the institutionalized vigilante groups “StopHam”, “Lev Protiv”, “Hrjuschi Protiv” and “AntiDealer”, “Sober Yards” and “Sorok sorokov” was carried out for this purpose. The authors point out the non-political nature of the movements, whose activities focus on social spheres of high importance to the general public, but conclude that the formation of a digital environment of trust and cooperation is threatened by aggressive online initiatives and the non-civic nature of digital activism.