Based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork, the paper follows twenty Sri Lankan social media users who use social media for resistance and who rose to prominence during the 2022 Aragalaya, a grassroots political movement that ousted the incumbent Rajapaksa regime (Kodikara et al, 2022). On the one hand, the argument considers the tensions that emerge in the encounter between being a highly visible Sri Lankan activist in a media sphere notorious for egregious restrictions on media freedoms and state-sponsored violence against dissenters. On the other hand, it probes the lure and demands of widespread influencer culture on activism and how the accumulation and exchange of influence affects and contributes to how activists’ politically participate. The paper introduces the term “information influencers” to address the overlooked intersection of social media influencing and political participation. It also argues for a conceptual way of seeing social media influence through the Bordieuan lens of digital capital (Ragnedda, 2020). The primary objective of the article is to understand the reasons people in Sri Lanka become information influencers and what value digital capital holds for them. The ethnographic findings are presented under the four rubrics of 1) early years trauma, 2) rage and responsibility, 3) altruism and 4) reclaiming the influencer space. While the ethnography is rooted deeply in Sri Lanka’s political landscape, when taken together, the concepts of information influencer and digital capital are shown to provide a valuable lens for tracing how influencer practices unfold in diverse cultural settings and alternative digital spaces.

This study explores how former teenage hostages from the Israel-Hamas war use TikTok to narrate their experiences, process trauma, and reconstruct identity. Social media, particularly TikTok, has become a key platform for self-expression and collective storytelling, allowing young users to integrate their trauma into digital culture. Drawing on Goffman’s dramaturgical model, the study examines how these adolescents navigate self-presentation through platform-specific affordances.

Using qualitative thematic analysis, the research examines 67 TikTok videos created by 10 former teenage hostages released in late 2023. The findings reveal four key themes: (1) Platform integration—hostages incorporate TikTok trends, viral sounds, and participatory formats to frame their captivity experiences, blending personal testimony with digital culture. (2) Dark humor—irony and sarcasm serve as coping mechanisms, allowing former hostages to reclaim agency over their narratives while engaging audiences. (3) Grief expression—videos function as digital memorials, commemorating lost family members and documenting the emotional impact of war. (4) Familial and collective identity—hostages emphasize family support and solidarity with those still in captivity, intertwining personal trauma with broader social activism.

These themes highlight the complex ways in which trauma is performed and negotiated on social media. The study extends research on digital identity and trauma processing, demonstrating that TikTok not only mediates self-expression but also reshapes how young survivors construct meaning from their experiences within participatory digital spaces.

The paper focuses on Instagram LGBTQIA+ parent-influencers in the Italian context, where traditional gender stereotypes are still predominant and LGBTQIA+ individuals’ rights are well-below EU standards (ILGA-Europe 2024). Through thematic analysis of a three-month digital ethnography of the two largest profiles of Italian LGBTQIA+ parent-influencers, the contribution highlights both: 1) LGBTQIA+ parent-influencers’ use of digital platforms to negotiate identity-based stigma, providing alternative models of gender, sexuality, and family; and 2) the political potential of this form of advocacy-work.

Preliminary findings highlight how the profiles contend with integration and social advocacy. On the one hand, they seek to dismantle stereotypes that see queer parenthood as ‘other’ and selfish through relatable portrayals of family life; on the other, they engage with questions of politics and activism, often due to a perceived duty to educate audiences. These practices highlight the profiles’ efforts to familiarize audiences with the challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ families and overcome the ‘love is love’ trope of social inclusion, which often has the result of depoliticizing queer struggles.

Given a relative lack of symbolic LGBTQIA+ figures and events in Italy, LGBTQIA+ parent-influencers can allow scholars a glimpse into the cultural and social presence of these subjectivities. Their tug-o-war between relatable-ness and activism underscores questions regarding the potential for social change of this kind of content and how it is reconciled with the logics of platform capitalism.

Despite growing concern over the standardization of content moderation, there has

been little empirical investigation beyond mainstream social media. We developed a novel approach to compare rules and policy priorities within Community Guidelines based on categories from the Trust and Safety Professionals Association. We focused on livestreaming, a particularly challenging format to moderate, and asked: what policies govern content? And how do mainstream, alternative, and adult content platforms differ? We analyzed 12 platforms and identified four orientations towards industry standards: the mainstream ideal, the regulatory competitor, the alternative ethos, and the overlooked concerns. These orientations partially map onto divisions between mainstream, alternative, and adult livestreaming platforms, allowing us to pinpoint different factors driving the adoption of industry standards. Finally, we discuss the tradeoff between free expression and sexual expression, highlight epistemological considerations regarding the use of policy documents, and conclude with an agenda for future comparative research.