Elisenda Ardèvol and Gemma San Cornelio presented an ongoing research on environmental activism on TikTok.
Tik Tok is a platform widely used by young audiences for disseminating diverse content, including climate crisis activism. TikTok distinguishes itself from other social media platforms by facilitating and orienting creators’ content towards specific formats (audio and video templates, trends, etc.), thereby creating a distinctive aesthetic. These cultural forms are replicated in ways that can be understood through viral (massive dissemination) and memetic logic (formal qualities and popular remix). While all social media platforms promote their own aesthetics, such as Instagram’s square formats and filters, TikTok has been characterized by ‘circumscribed creativity,’ referring to the technological and creative limits imposed by the platform.
The study draws on a digital ethnographic approach, based on the following of 60 accounts devoted to environmental and climate crisis in Ibero America (Spain, Mexico, Brazil, and Panama) and 12 in-depth interviews with the content creators. In our presentation, we describe relevant characteristics of TikTok and compare them with other social media platforms like Instagram, from the point of view of the Eco-Tokers. The interviewees highlight the tension between their creative expression and the constraints imposed by the platform, contrasting virality with community building. We argue that by adapting to TikTok’s rules and engaging in viral and memetic dynamics, environmental activists are expanding the visual cultures of climate change social movement. However, this adaptation raises critical questions about the sustainability of such viral driven activism, as it may risk prioritizing platform-driven trends over genuine community building and long-term impact.
Helsinki, 16 – 18 June 2025:
Finnish Anthropological Society Biennial Conference