SLEEPING GIANTS BRASIL MOVEMENT ON INSTAGRAM, MORALIZATION AND POLITICIZATION OF CONSUMPTION

Abstract

This article presents the concept of consumerism, characterizing it as a type of civic activism in the field of consumption, and then placing the performance of the Sleeping Giants Brasil movement in relation to it. I will do this through the analysis of its repertoire of tactical actions, on the Instagram digital platform, whose objective is to demonetize websites and channels that disseminate virulent content such as hate speech against minorities and fake news. I approach the profile as a sociotechnical subject, able to manage actions in the digital space whose scope and consequences go beyond it. I also highlight specificities of Instagram as a virtual showcase in which visuality is hegemonic. Finally, I articulate consumerism in a broad reflection with the intrinsically problematic algorithmic economy of platforms, already pointed out by other researchers. I conclude that, despite limitations, such as the focus on sites that propagate virulent content more than on Big Techs and their platforms, the SGBR's performance ends up having positive effects, reinforcing the guidelines around which it mobilizes and coalesces of social forces for a collective action that makes use of the singularities of digital ecology, with its hashtags and arrobas, but dialogues with what lies beyond it. The exposure of companies that advertise on virulent sites and those that sell such spaces, the Big Techs, transforms the profitability of exploiting sensationalism, hatred and misinformation into a moral scandal.