New Face of Memes in Student-led Protests in Serbia and their Ethical Implications

Krisztina  Rácz; Mirjana Nećak Gavrilović; Andrej Ševo

doi:10.2298/FID2601143R

Authors

Krisztina Rácz Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade
Mirjana Nećak Gavrilović Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University, Belgrade
Andrej Ševo Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2298/FID2601143R

Keywords:

student protests, Serbia, internet memes, humour, digital activism, protest mobilisation, social media ethics

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.

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