Digital Parrhesia as a Counterweight to Astroturfing

François Allard-Huver (1) , Nicholas Gilewicz

1 GRIPIC - Groupe de recherches interdisciplinaires sur les processus d’information et de communication

Astroturfing-fake grassroots communications about an issue of public interest-is further problematized in digital space. Because digitally mediated communications easily accommodate pseudonymous and anonymous speech, digital ethos depends on a finding a proper balance between the ability to create pseudonymous or anonymous online presences, and the public need for transparency in public speech. Analyzing such content requires analysis of media forms and analysis of the honesty of speakers themselves. This chapter applies Michel Foucault's articulation of parrhesia-the ability to speak freely and the concomitant public duties it requires of speakers-to digital communications. It first theorizes digital parrhesia, then outlines a techno-semiotic methodological approach with which researchers-and the public-can consider online advocacy speech. The chapter then analyzes two very different instances of astroturfing using the techno-semiotic method in order to demonstrate the generalizability of the theory of digital parresia, and the utility of the techno-semiotic approach.

Domaines: Sciences de l'information et de la communication

François Allard-Huver, Nicholas Gilewicz. Digital Parrhesia as a Counterweight to Astroturfing. Online Credibility and Digital Ethos: Evaluating Computer-Mediated Communication, IGI Global, pp.215-227, 2013, ⟨10.4018/978-1-4666-2663-8.ch012⟩. ⟨hal-02092105⟩