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infomorph
An academic term used by the creators to describe the spambot as a repurposed social media data entity rather than a stolen identity.
1 chapter across 1 book
So You've Been Publicly Shamed (2015)Jon Ronson
Chapter 7
Jon Ronson discovers a spambot impersonating him on Twitter, created by academics who defend it as an 'infomorph' rather than identity theft, leading to a confrontation that explores the tension between authentic identity and postmodern digital representations. Following a public shaming campaign that successfully pressured the creators to shut down the spambot, Ronson reflects on the resurgence of social media shaming as a democratizing and powerful tool for collective justice, motivating him to investigate future cases of public shaming.