Hashtag activism in Russia: theory and practice

ABSTRACT

The mediatization of social practices has brought new trends and forms of activism to life in society. This paper seeks to explain the theoretical basis for and provide conceptual insight into the Russian practice of hashtag activism – a phenomenon that has become an integral part of contemporary media activism and is of burgeoning interest to both Russian and foreign researchers. Moreover, this phenomenon is equally relevant to the study of the mediatization of politics more widely. Thus, the aim of the paper is to measure the level of the hashtag activism in Russia. This paper presents the results of the survey on social and political issues among young Russians, compares real activism with media activism, and discusses the role of hashtags in social media activism through the lens of several high profiles, public political events that took place in Russia between 2019 and 2020.

KEYWORDS:

• Media activism
• mediatization of politics
• young people
• hashtag
• political communication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 10 лет хэштегу // Deutsche Welle. https://www.dw.com/ru/10-лет-хэштегу/a-40206283.

2 Federal law on youth policy in the Russian Federation. http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202012300003.

3 Population of the Russian Federation by gender and age / Federal state statistics service. https://rosstat.gov.ru/compendium/document/13284.

4 Survey of teenagers: interest in politics and sources of information. Forecasts of 15–17-year-olds regarding the situation in the country // FOM. https://fom.ru/SMI-i-internet/13324.

5 Education in Numbers. A brief statistical digest. https://www.hse.ru/mirror/pubs/share/404878648.pdf.

6 The first phase of the research (the survey) was conducted as part as the study with the financial support from of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Expert Institute for Social Research (EISR) under Research Project No. 20-011-31376.

7 This research was carried out by the research team of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University with the support by the grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

8 At the time of the study: February 2021.

9 Federal Law N 54-FZ of on 19.06.2004 ‘On Meetings, rallies, demonstrations, processions and picketing’. http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_48103/.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project number 21-011-31701 (RFBR and EISR).

Notes on contributors

Anna Gureeva

Anna Gureeva is currently an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Journalism at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) in Russia. Dr. Gureeva received her PhD degree from Lomonosov Moscow State University. Dr. Gureeva published books, papers in international journals as well as participated in a range of international conferences and forum on Media and Communications. Her research interests include media communication, mediatization, media activism, political communication.

Elina Samorodova

Elina Samorodova is currently a Researcher in the Faculty of Journalism at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) in Russia. Ms. Samorodova received her bachelor and master degrees from Lomonosov Moscow State University. Ms. Samorodova published a number of papers in journals and participated in a range of conferences and forum on Media and Communications. Her research interests include media communication, media policy, media activism.