Memes are so intertwined with social media that it is hard to imagine the platforms existing without the simple visual cues. Yet, memes predate social media by decades at least, and perhaps eons—depending on what we consider the origin of memes. The term “meme” was first coined in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his work The Self Gene, who suggested the term was analogous to “phoneme,” or the smallest unit of sound in speech.
We think of memes as being harmless and even humorous responses that are used all too often on social media—and that has long been the case. Yet, there is a very real concern that memes could sway voters in this year’s presidential election as they can be effective tools on social media to spread misinformation.
“As a tool for information, memes rarely contain enough information to help individuals become truly informed on a topic, especially regarding complex topics of legislation. Yet, a one-sentence lie can spread rapidly if it is put in a humorous context, such as a viral TikTok sound or easily sharable graphic,” warned Jerrica Rowlett, assistant professor of communication and language studies at Bryant University.
Memes have already proven to be a highly effective tool in spreading misinformation because they’re easy to produce, harder to moderate using artificial intelligence, and can be easily reposted and shared. Like a TV catchphrase, they’re likely to be remembered and repeated.
Facts can therefore be easily lost or purposely hidden in a politically-focused meme.
“It would be fair to say there’s always been a degree of misinformation in political memes,” explained Mike Poirier, vice president of editorial operations at Business Wire.
“When partisan creators support their point of view by latching onto a cultural moment, they aren’t focused on nuance or accountability,” said Poirier. “Ideally someone who sees purported facts in a meme would dig deeper with reliable news outlets, but those viewers are also not the intended audience. Most memes are designed as quick hits to prompt an emotional response.”
Shift In How Voters Receive Their News
As many now rely on social media as their primary source of news and information, a meme can be effective tool for getting out a short message—but tcan also contain misinformation/disinformation. Instead of providing concise details, it can misrepresent the facts.
“An individual’s media consumption habits determine the impact here,” suggested Poirier. “If someone is only snacking on bite-sized bits of information via social media and not balancing their information diet with other, more in-depth news sources, then memes are on the menu determining how they may vote.”
Likewise, memes tell a story concisely, while they can also be emotion-driven. A lot of times it is humorous, but that’s not always the case.
“Considering that the number of voters using social media as their primary news source has increased, most people are scrolling through a newsfeed that blends news with humorous takes on the news and it’s hard to imagine them not being influenced by the positive or negative emotions they feel with memes to strengthen their feelings; it becomes a blur of news and humor and your friend’s dogs,” added Rowlett. “I don’t foresee them being more impactful than the news, but they can complement the feelings one has toward the news.”
For those reasons, memes could also be helping to widen the political divide. It is easy to laugh at the other side, but social media has shown that people aren’t so thick-skinned when their side is the target.
“To say that division is the goal depends on who is creating it and sharing memes,” Rowlett continued. “There are people who will share them to stir the pot and start disagreements online, while many people are trying to find community with like-minded people through humor. Either way, you’re either creating division through online disagreements that never persuade anyone or strengthening your echo chamber by only hearing from those who agree with you.”
Memes on social media can be—and have already been—weaponized.
“The point of many political memes is to entertain the like-minded and irritate any who disagree. The goal is rarely to bridge a gap with those on the other side of an issue. When memes are reverberating in respective echo chambers, discussion gets drowned out,” noted Poirier.
Campaigns Should Use Memes, But Wisely
Memes may be critical to reaching younger voters, especially those who don’t watch the debates and aren’t likely to tune into the evening news or attend a political rally. In that way, memes could be very good at energizing voters and bolstering support.
“Persuading voters to change their minds or commit to a candidate through memes is not likely to happen, but you can use them to help manage the feelings one has towards a candidate,” said Rowlett. “The KamalaHQ TikTok account is a great example of this. The team uses many of the current memes and trends that resonate with a younger audience that political campaigns often struggle with targeting. It will be interesting to see if this strategy gets more younger voters to the polls.”
At the same time, campaigns may need to be careful in how they employ memes, even humorous ones. Candidates need to look down to earth, but as a gaffe said on stage or the wrong decision made while ordering a sandwich during a campaign stop, the wrong meme can have a lasting impact.
It was just last month that the Trump campaign shared an AI-generated image that suggested pop singer Taylor Swift had endorsed the former president. It was, of course, not the case—and may have spurred the pop superstar to officially endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
“There’s a delicate line here because understandably campaigns want to show a lighter side of their candidate and highlight the contrast with an opponent,” said Poirier
“They can’t risk coming off as unserious, but it’s clear memes are now part of the larger political discourse as they energize supporters and could potentially resonate with undecideds,” Poirier added. “There’s also an element of free media exposure when a news outlet covers the popularity of a particular meme as the story itself or otherwise includes memes in coverage of an issue.”
