This paper is a qualitative ethnographic study of how a group of meme factories in Singapore and Malaysia have adapted their content programming and social media practices in light of COVID-19. It considers how they have fostered, countered, or challenged the rise and spread of misinformation in both countries. More crucially, the paper considers how meme factories position their contents to speak in a variety of platform-specific and age-appropriate vernaculars to provide public service messaging or social critique to their followers.
Research Questions:
- What are meme factories, how are they organized, and what is their role in the meme ecology?
- How do meme factories participate in socio-political discourse through their contents, in light of the rise of misinformation and related information suppression laws?
- How have meme factories pivoted their content and strategies in light of the COVID-19 pandemic?
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