New Face of Memes in Student-led Protests in Serbia and their Ethical Implications
New Face of Memes in Student-led Protests in Serbia and their Ethical Implications
Author(s): Krisztina Rácz, Mirjana Nećak Gavrilović, Andrej ŠevoSubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Media studies, Civil Society, Governance, Communication studies, Theory of Communication, Corruption - Transparency - Anti-Corruption
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Keywords: student protests; Serbia; internet memes; humour; digital activism; protest mobilisation; social media ethics
Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to explore memes created and circulated by students and citizens taking part in the protests in Serbia. Memes from two social media platforms, X and Instagram, were collected and analysed in terms of their visual form and content, with emphasis on recurring themes. Based on these, six types of pictorial and one type of video memes in relation to the Serbian student protest are discussed. The article explores the meanings the memes created and distributed during the protests carried, understanding them as instances of political aims being achieved by non-political means. We further discuss the ethical implications of memes, both pictorial and AI-generated. The general issues the article tackles are those of protest mobilisation, humour, memes, ethics and AI.
Journal: Filozofija i društvo
- Issue Year: 37/2026
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 143-170
- Page Count: 28
- Language: English
