The Anonymous hacktivist collective has attracted media attention due to its politically motivated operations and its frequent public appearances on YouTube and other social media platforms. This...Show moreThe Anonymous hacktivist collective has attracted media attention due to its politically motivated operations and its frequent public appearances on YouTube and other social media platforms. This paper seeks to understand how Anonymous constructs its enemies through the theoretical lens proposed by Spillman and Spillman (1997), which consists of six features of enemy image construction: negative anticipation, putting blame on the enemy, identification with evil, zero-sum thinking, stereotyping and de-individualization, and refusal to show empathy. The analysis focuses qualitatively on the language used by the hacktivist collective in 18 YouTube video messages addressed to public organizations, namely governments and police departments. The application of the theoretical model finds several important patterns in Anonymous’ rhetoric of constructing its enemy for each of the six elements of the model. Overall, this study seeks to provide a better comprehension of this complex actor by looking beyond its hacking acts.Show less
