Blackwashing through Slacktivism

Blackwashing through Slacktivism

The idea of ‘linkbait’ may sound sinister, but it’s not. Its [sic] simply content that’s placed on a reputable website. This links back to your site and boosts web rankings. (archive)

Dennis, 2013 (athenadennis.com)

One of Athena maintains at least one password-protected webpage on palmoildetectives.com to avoid transparency. A leaked password shows the page to mainly contain a collection of Athena’s clicktotweet links for her zealous followers to increase her site stats and twitter engagement. Various followers do so zealously, see a.o. the clicktivist accounts @_pehicc and @boycottpalmoil.

plant a story, opinion or idea in a small or obscure news site, or on social media, encourage followers to share it too, then hope a bigger outlet with a bigger audience picks it up, and another, all the way up to major publishers or TV networks

Fisher, 2020 (BBC)

But, Athena’s use of clicktotweet does embody what she really is about: stirring her followers into zealous outrage through cheap rhetoric and free plugins. (More coming soon.)

slacktivism: The self-deluded idea that by liking, sharing, or retweeting something you are helping out.

Urban Dictionary

Over the years I’ve written for big names like British Gas, Monarch Airlines and Tesco. (mirror)

Dennis, 2014/2015 (ContentCatnip/CreativeAthena/PalmOilDetectives)

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