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While scholars of activism have begun to unfold the dynamics of the 'contentious politics of data', less explored are the forms of appropriation of algorithms to pursue political objectives by social movements. This article fills this gap by offering a novel theoretical framework, a conceptual vocabulary, and a typology to foreground and articulate algorithmic activism as a subset of algorithmic politics. It starts discussing why an excessive focus on the power of platforms risks disregarding the exploration of agency and provides the definitions of algorithmic agency and politics. Subsequently, it centres on algorithmic activism and demonstrates that algorithms have become the latest addition to the contention repertoire of social movements. Drawing on a heterogeneous set of examples and case studies (including our own research and a database of 250 articles), we propose and examine a typology of three dynamics of algorithmic activism, i.e. algorithmic amplification, evasion, and hijacking. We show that the struggle for visibility (either to achieve it or deny it) lies at the centre of all these types of activism. In the conclusions, we reflect on the key takeaways of our work, clarifying that algorithmic activism (1) exceeds the notion of 'hashtag activism' (2) constitutes an agnostic concept (3) is part of an incessant political struggle between algorithmic strategies and tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand the practices and meanings associated with the creation and use of private chat groups on instant messaging services such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger and WeChat that are accessible only to platform workers of online food delivery services. We draw on participant observation in five countries (Italy, Spain, Mexico, China, and India), in-depth interviews with 68 food delivery couriers and digital ethnography (Pink et al., 2015) within dozens of online private chat groups of food delivery workers. Our fieldwork shows that private chat groups are extremely relevant in the daily work of delivery workers and are appropriated to restore forms of mutualism not afforded by the food delivery apps. Following Costa (2018) and her concept of affordances- in-practice, we describe how the practice of online private chat groups created by platform workers affords: (1) the emergence of communities of practice; (2) resistance and contempt; (3) mutualism and solidarity. We argue that these workers 'enact' the affordances of instant messaging apps, to supplement – from below – the affordances of food delivery apps that were denied or ignored by food delivery companies. We argue that these affordances constitute cooperative affordances. This concept captures the cooperative nature of peer-to-peer communication that occurs within the informal online chat groups created by the workers themselves. Finally, this article contributes to affordance theory by highlighting how affordances are not immanent properties of artifacts, or 'invariants', as argued by Gibson (1979) , but can be 'enacted' by specific users, like food delivery workers, within specific social and cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the production culture and routines of "troll farms" in three Arab countries—Tunisia, Egypt, and Iraq—from a production studies approach. A production studies approach enables us to focus on the working conditions of paid trolls. We employed qualitative methods to look inside the "black box" of Arab troll farms. From February to April 2020, we conducted semi-structured interviews with eight disinformation workers at both managerial and staff levels. We propose to understand disinformation work as a specific type of digital labor, characterized by very intense shifts and emotionally burdensome daily tasks, absence of legal job contracts, and highly surveilled work environments. The article contributes to understand disinformation practices outside and beyond the West; it situates disinformation activities within the broader context of digital media industries; it provides a detailed analysis of the features that distinguish troll farms in the Arab world from those that emerged in other regions of the Global South; and it reconnects the research on disinformation to digital labor studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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