The Role of Internet Memes in the Spread of Misinformation: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Citation: Simran Firoz Ratnani, "The Role of Internet Memes in the Spread of Misinformation: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective", Universal Library of Business and Economics, Volume 02, Issue 04.

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The article examines how internet memes contribute to the production and dissemination of misinformation from a symbolic interactionist perspective. Memes are treated as compact symbolic configurations that fuse visual cues, captions, and affective tonalities into highly shareable units that travel rapidly across platforms, inviting users to redefine situations, identities, and group boundaries. The study develops a theoretical and analytical synthesis rather than reporting original empirical data, bringing together research on visual disinformation, participatory propaganda, and meme cultures. Communicative features of memes that support the diffusion, routinization, and resilience of misleading narratives in health-related and political communication are reconstructed. Special attention is paid to the continued use of templates that crystallized during the COVID-19 crisis and now structure post-pandemic disputes over vaccination, conspiracy worldviews, and polarized elections. Processes of symbolic labeling, moral entrepreneurship, and in-group signaling are analyzed as mechanisms through which humorous or seemingly trivial content becomes a carrier of disinformation. On this basis, the article advances a symbolic interactionist model of memetic misinformation. It outlines directions for platform governance, media literacy, and community-based responses that focus on situated meaning-making rather than solely on content removal. The findings are relevant to scholars in media and communication studies, sociology, and political communication, as well as practitioners involved in designing responses to digitally mediated misinformation.

Keywords: Internet Memes, Misinformation, Disinformation, Symbolic Interactionism, Visual Disinformation, Social Media, Conspiracy Culture, COVID-19, Post-Pandemic Communication, Political Communication, Digital Propaganda.

https://doi.org/10.70315/uloap.ulbec.2025.0204008