New virtual communities for a renewed digital activism in Italy: A case study of the Bida, Cisti and Nebbia Mastodon instances

Abstract

This article analyses recent developments of digital tech activism within the Italian hacker scene. Being characterized by hacktivism (the combination of hacking and politics), it first boomed in the early 2000s – engaging the anti-globalization movement, protests and counter-summits with projects like Indymedia and Autistici/Inventati. Later, it had a phase of fragmentation and an ‘evolution’, towards what Hassan and Staggenborg define as a ‘social movement community’. In this article, I will analyse what caused this ‘evolution’ and its composition, networks, frames and repertoires of action – to outline political and action perspectives pursued by these virtual ‘communities’. I will focus on those involving users of Mastodon.bida.im, Mastodon.cisti.org and Nebbia.fail independent social media, built by the radical tech collectives Bida (Bologna), Underscore (Turin) and Lab61 (Milan). From a methodological point of view, I will employ a qualitative research method: analysis of specialistic literature, blogs and documents edited by activists, semi-structured qualitative interviews and observant participation.