Resisting Algorithmic Violence: The Perplexity of Social Movements with Generative AI

Social movements depend on social media platforms to raise public awareness, gain wider support and connect the likeminded for solidarity. Activists have found their way to resist the inherent algorithmic violence and the suppression from the platforms over the years. Yet, new challenges appear with the rapid changing AI technologies landscapes. While Generative AI (Gen AI) has caught attentions from scholars across disciplines with the focus on the negative impacts of mis/disinformation associated with it, the algorithmic shift on social media platforms and the ways Gen AI distorted information, experience and knowledge are less explored in the context of social movements. The article draws on Treré and Bonini’s work on algorithmic resistance, I first examine the evolving algorithmic violence with social media platforms and Gen AI. Subsequently, I discuss with case studies to illustrate how these potential challenges may discount the effectiveness of the three dynamics of algorithmic activism typology Treré and Bonini identified. The article concludes with a critical discussion on social media user agency, social movements’ struggle for visibility and information fatigue in the everyday battle against algorithmic violence in our society.