ABSTRACT
This chapter examines ‘comment culture’ using examples from social media platforms and the tabloid press. It explores the shift from a model of free speech as a collective responsibility to one that presents it as an absolute individual right. The chapter examines the consequences of this shift by analyzing a series of vitriolic exchanges on its chosen platforms. Three main trends emerge: first, social media have developed a unique comment culture focussed on combat, disinhibition and the contest for popularity. Second, online platforms are governed by their own distinctive ‘thread logic’, which disdains rational argument in favour of passionate display. Third, the conventional rules of conversation and argumentation have been disapplied, with consequences for communities both on- and offline.
