ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the changes that algorithmic power is bringing to the realm of politics and the transformations of social movement practices and digital activism. It explains the notions of algorithm, datafication, and big data, along with their mythical and ideological underpinnings under the constraints of data capitalism. The chapter describes new strategies of computational propaganda and digital manipulation. The field of study of social movements and digital media has been particularly fertile in the use and application of big data and social media-oriented approaches in the analysis of contemporary protests and revolutions. Big data refer to a plethora of interconnected social, economic, and technological phenomena, with reflections about the benefits and challenges of analysing ‘massive quantities of information produced by and about people, things, and their interactions’ at the centre. Explorations that solely rely on big data analytics can lead to a new type of digital positivism, reinforcing the ideology of the cloud sublime.
