The next speaker in this session at the 2026 Association of Internet Researchers conference in Mexico City is Luigia Tricase, who explores the concept of the emancipatory Internet. This requires not only a diagnosis of current problems, but also the envisioning of real utopias, to be reached via a theory of change.
Such a theory of change requires oppositional and confrontational change, symbiotic change within institutional arrangements, and interstitial change-making within the existing social order. The interstitial theory of change applies especially to the emancipatory potential of the Fediverse, in fact.
This paper works with 15 interviews and observations with hacktivists and participants in Italy, and examines three levels of change. At the macro-level, this addresses the role of media in the antagonism between social forces – and it is difficult for activists to think of the Fediverse as relevant to them in this context, since its reach across society is so limited; this lack of use of a potentially emancipatory technology is seen as a real tragedy.
At the micro-level, media practices and the effects of media on actors are central. Here, making and caring for alternative media creates practices which enable the development of collectives; such collectivisation can be empowering even if it takes place within a small-scale social network, since the collective has full control over their media spaces. However, this also means that collectives now need to bear the financial and labour costs of maintaining these systems, and such costs are often shared unequally. This is true especially for marginalised communities facing constant attacks.
At the meso-level, forms of organisation and effects of media organisation are key. Alternative social media offer an opportunity to experiment with new organisational models, and are emancipatory in this sense; they reject surveillance capitalist practices and instead allow for grassroots participation in organisational frameworks. However, multiple forms of marginalisation exist here, and alternative social media may not necessarily represent safer spaces for such individuals and communities.
Disagreements within meso-level organisations (e.g. over platform affordances or settings) cannot be resolved simply by forking projects, since this also splits the network and thereby undermines its utility for everyone.
Across these three levels, a holistic analysis is now required; how do these levels affect each other, and how can (self)governance address some of these issues.
