Cyberactivism and hacktivism: a global collective movement and its influence on social issues. The Anonymous case

Abstract

The following article analyzes how Anonymous, a collective formed by cyberactivists and hacktivists that began through the website 4chan.org, influences social issues. This organization began its activities with the practice of trolling, but over time it has evolved into a political collective. Anonymous started with cyberattacks against the Church of Scientology, and then it attacked multinationals and participated in the Arab Spring, and during the pandemic of COVID-19, it was part of the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests in Colombia. The permeability of the collective, the feeling of individual power, the lack of hierarchies, and the essence of cyberactivism and hacktivism permitted the development of a global movement that has influenced international issues and has given favorable conditions to this kind of collective to last in time.