Rage for the Machine. Algorithmic discourse arenas and the animation of discursive demons.

Algorithmische Diskursarenen und die Animation diskursiver Dämonen

Abstract

Social media platforms have become central arenas for political discourse. At the same time, an increasing number of analyses highlight polarisation, overstimulation and emotional escalation. This article argues that this shift in discourse is closely linked to the platforms' own infrastructural transformations. The transition from chronologically organised, subscription-based timelines to algorithmically curated, engagement-driven feeds marks a turning point that has fundamentally altered the emotional architecture of social media. Drawing on critical theories of digital capitalism, the article first reconstructs the economic accumulation regime of social media, which is based on the commodification of behavioural traces and reflected in the 'emotional architecture' of interfaces designed to maximise screen time. Secondly, it examines the repercussions of this logic on discursive knowledge production practices of content creators. In the competition for visibility, everyday 'folk theories of algorithms' emerge, leading to relatively uniform adaptation strategies, particularly content scarcity and affective intensification. The third section considers the consequences of these dynamics for the form and content of political discourse. Drawing on approaches from affect theory, it is demonstrated how multimodal platform environments affectively animate discursive objects. Particular attention is paid to the construction of enemy figures that exert social power as 'discursive demons'. The example of the figure of 'Talahon', which emerged on German TikTok in 2024, illustrates how such demons circulate rapidly within the interaction between platform architecture and user practices.