To begin with, let us start with the history of the word “meme”. The term “meme” was actually coined by Richard Dawkins, the author behind the famous book “The Selfish Gene” as a being that can control its replication, evolution, and mutation, comparing it as a parallel to biological genes.
Before the advent of the internet memes still existed in the form of comics which I didn’t know were considered as memes up until now. These comics were published in the magazine “The Judge” which was published by the University of Iowa and the “Wisconsin Octopus” published by the University of Wisconsin which mostly published ‘Expectations vs. Reality’ comics.
After the introduction of the Internet, it didn’t take long for the first meme to go viral which was the “Dancing Baby” and was popularized through email chains. As years went by and social media platforms started coming up like Facebook in 2004, memes blew up! I feel the main reason why memes became so popular was because of how it was made to be relatable to a certain audience and it was mainly for a comedic purpose but it has evolved now to much more.
Nowadays, as an emerging medium, memes have become more integrated into our digital lives and are even being used by companies as “Meme campaigns” for marketing. But along with the bright side of memes, there was also a dark side. Memes have also now been considered a type of information warfare which is a form of disinformation to secure strategic goals. It is now being actively used in political campaigns as a form of propaganda like how in the 2016 presidential election, Russian trolls made memes to influence the outcome of the election. Another troll farm discovered in Poland was making memes that focused on the defense and aviation industries to influence the awarding of major government defense contracts.
Even though there have been initiatives like the establishment of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats by the EU and NATO in 2017, the best form of defense as of now for information warfare is by raising awareness about such issues that bring light to the danger of memes which you and I can be a part of.
References:
Antinori, A., 2021. Memetic Warfare, the dark irony that may become terrorism – Formiche.net. [online] Formiche.net. Available at: <https://formiche.net/2021/02/memetic-warfare/> [Accessed 10 February 2022].
Ascott, T., 2020. How memes are becoming the new frontier of information warfare | The Strategist. [online] The Strategist. Available at: <https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/how-memes-are-becoming-the-new-frontier-of-information-warfare/> [Accessed 10 February 2022].
Gerken, T., 2018. Is this 1921 cartoon the first-ever meme?. [online] BBC News? Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43783521> [Accessed 10 February 2022].
Haddow, D., 2016. Meme warfare: how the power of mass replication has poisoned the US election. [online] The Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/04/political-memes-2016-election-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/> [Accessed 10 February 2022].
Pomerleau, M., 2020. Memes, the pandemic, and the new tactics of information warfare. [online] C4ISR Net. Available at: <https://www.c4isrnet.com/smr/information-warfare/2020/07/23/memes-the-pandemic-and-the-new-tactics-of-information-warfare/> [Accessed 10 February 2022].
Skager, K., 2021. What Are Memes & How Can You Use Them in Marketing?. [online] Quality logo products blog. Available at: <https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/7-things-marketers-should-know-memes-faq/> [Accessed 10 February 2022].
Zolotukhin, D., 2017. What Is Memetic Warfare and How Does It Threaten Democratic Values?. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://postinformation.medium.com/what-is-memetic-warfare-and-how-it-threats-democratic-values-5140741c3a4/> [Accessed 10 February 2022].
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