Digital Strategies in Politics: Memes and Ethics

In 2019, Scott Morrison’s government managed to narrowly win a third term, despite polling placing them behind Labor for almost three years.

At the heart of the victory was a change in the way they campaigned, bringing in a pair of New Zealand election strategists armed with a new weapon: low-quality memes.

Since then, the duo known as Topham Guerin have brought their political tricks to bigger battlegrounds and have been hired by Peter Dutton ahead of the next federal election.

But their methods – including a recent embrace of deepfakes – raise questions about the ethics of political campaigning in the digital age.

Today, special correspondent for The Saturday Paper Jason Koutsoukis on the rise of Topham Guerin and the political power of bad memes.

Socials: Stay in touch with us on Twitter and Instagram

Guest: Special correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Jason Koutsoukis.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.