Playing with misinformation, lying with truth: satirical conspiracy theories and sacred seriousness of play in online imageboard cultures

Abstract

Knowingly re-circulated misinformation online is a widespread phenomenon that is increasingly met with suspicion or even condemnation in spite of the sharer’s intent. The article recasts misinformation sharing into cultural play practice questioning this sensibility. Drawing on Huizinga’s concept of play and the Lacanian notion of belief-through-other, it claims that fascination with fakes owes not simply to misrepresentation of reality but the symbolic truth it conveys in staging its distortion. Satirical conspiracy theories such as SwitzerlandIsFake solicit commentary on media effects in simulating reality without mistaking them for facts. This and similar media sub-genres exploit context collapse prone online environments and thereby challenge clear-cut distinctions between misinformation and satire, truth-claims and mere entertainment of illusions. A closer comparative analysis of SwitzerlandIsFake with cases of irony used as a coverup for outrageous or conspiratorial rhetoric prominent on 4chan imageboard sites lends an insight into the demise of play communities who increasingly adopt faithful attitude to conspiratorial or ideological beliefs. Conversely, the sacredness of play that bonds communities and thereby anticipates trust calls for a shift in perspective from moral condemnation to acculturation regarding deeper causes of the post-truth condition, such as general distrust and cynicism, which cannot be eradicated by debunking.