Online rumoring as hyper-improvised participatory theatre : a case study of Hong Kong

Abstract

Recently, given the advent of social media and the so-called infodemic brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been renewed interest in the study of online rumor. However, most online rumor studies, intentionally or unintentionally, have conceptualized online rumor in the way its offline counterpart had been treated. This is all the more intriguing in Hong Kong where rumors that are related to the local government’s pandemic control measures have been especially prevalent. Some questions then arise: considering the nature of online participation, are online rumors no more than “rumors that are disseminated online?” In the case of Hong Kong, how do people engage in and perceive those pandemic online rumors?

By studying two online pandemic control conspiracy rumors in Hong Kong using document analysis and in-depth interviews, this research examines the ways in which people participated in the discussion process of these rumors, how audience perceived people’s rumor participation, and the characteristics of such rumors in general. In particular, I propose an approach that serves as an alternative that complements our current understanding of online rumor, namely the “participatory theatre approach.” First and foremost, online rumor, I argue, should be distinguished from its offline counterpart in one fundamental aspect: while an offline rumor is mostly a claim, an online rumor is a repertoire that chronicles nearly all interlocutors’ actions and reactions in the course of rumor discussion. This integral component is called the “processual content.”

Moreover, in the case of Hong Kong, I suggest that the conspiracy rumors about the pandemic control measures are essentially a manifestation of social resistance. This can be revealed in two dimensions: on the one hand, audience hesitated to believe any rumor material (e.g., a line) they had come across. What they emphasized was whether the line is perceivably “tenable”—i.e., logically sound, justifiable, defensible, and was observably endorsed by other online users. This stands in stark contrast to previous studies which have regarded believability as the primary concern of rumor audience. On the other hand, instead of informativeness, people saw “playfulness” as the focal point that determines whether they would engage in a specific online rumor. Being playful here means whether the rumor material is able to create a mixed sense of hilarity, cynicism and even antagonism, rendering a serious issue seemingly unserious.

The stress on tenability over believability, and playfulness over informativeness, indeed, reflects the fatalistic, distrusting, and skeptical social-emotional climate created by the interplay of two consecutive restless events of Hong Kong, namely the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Under these circumstances, rumoring becomes a way of dramatizing one’s (negative) viewpoints on the status quo in an eloquent and contagious way. Taken together, I argue that the participatory theatre approach best captures and explains the dynamics of the rumor phenomenon in Hong Kong: Not only does it reflect the blurring boundary between rumor content and rumor process, but it also highlights how the online interactional context, alongside the offline social-emotional context, inform the way in which online rumor develops.