How fandoms and online mobs exert real-world influence

The next time you’re desperately casting heal on your paladin, spare a moment to think about the young revolutionaries using your dress-up-and-pretend world to overthrow their governments. Reddit threads, discord servers and game worlds are increasingly taking on the shape of unions, guilds and cadres as these relatively flexible, heterogenous structures feature more and more heavily in the political organising of the day. 

Whether it’s K-Pop stans driving consumer shocks, reddit communities playing the market or discord servers electing leaders it’s increasingly likely that these things become the new political institutions and we’re here to talk about what that means.

Links

• BTS's Jungkook Runs Into Unexpected Consequence From Mention Of Fabric Softener, Soompi: https://www.soompi.com/article/1296197wpp/btss-jungkook-runs-unexpected-consequence-mention-fabric-softener
• BTS’s Endorsement Was So Powerful That Hyundai Is Literally Struggling To Keep Up With Demand, Koreaboo: https://www.koreaboo.com/news/bts-hyundai-palisades-demand-struggle/
• Kpop Stans Trump Prank Rachets p the Internet Wars, Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-23/k-pop-stans-trump-prank-ratchets-up-the-internet-wars-kbrsyl17
• Black Lives Matter meets Animal Crossing: how protesters take their activism into video games, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/aug/07/black-lives-matter-meets-animal-crossing-how-protesters-take-their-activism-into-video-games
• Kids are attending pro-Palestinian protests on Roblox, CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/26/kids-are-attending-pro-palestinian-protests-on-roblox.html
• Stop playing politics or face a ban, Nintendo warns Animal Crossing gamers, HKFP: https://hongkongfp.com/2020/11/21/stop-playing-politics-or-face-a-wan-nintendo-warns-animal-crossing-gamers/
• A Staggering Number Of People Saw Fortnite’s Travis Scott ‘Astronomical’ Event, Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2020/04/28/a-staggering-number-of-people-saw-fortnites-travis-scott-astronomical-event/
• Fortnite's Travis Scott virtual concert watched by millions, BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52410647
• Joe Biden’s campaign made a custom Fortnite map, Polygon: https://www.polygon.com/2020/11/2/21545771/joe-biden-fortnite-campaign-creative-map/
• Joe Biden has his own island on ‘Animal Crossing’ where you can learn about his campaign, CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/18/business/biden-animal-crossing-island-trnd
• Youths Against Corruption: https://youthagainstcorruption.com/
• Nepal’s Social Media Ban Backfires as Politics Moves to a Chat Room, The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/world/asia/nepal-protest-genz-discord.html
• Sushila Karki: How Gen Z protestors chose Nepal’s first woman prime minister on Discord, The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/nepal-sushila-karki-new-prime-minister-discord-protests-b2826473.html
• GameStop’s wild ride: how Reddit traders sparked a ‘short squeeze’, The Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/47e3eaad-e087-4250-97fd-e428bac4b5e9
• Taiwan's digital revolution: Healing polarization and strengthening democracy, Harvard Business School: https://www.hbs.edu/bigs/taiwans-digital-revolution-audrey-tang