Abstract

This article offers a reflection on the relationship between the circulation of information across digital environments and the forms of sociality that are typical of online social aggregations. Through the discussion of a selection of sui generis examples of digital content, characterised by irony and apparent irrationality and for this reason described as «dadaist», the article aims to show how the circulation of information across digital environments takes place in a context where the activation of forms of network sociality - defined by the literature as affective, characterised by low intensity of interaction and oriented to publicity - is determinant for the diffusion of such content, notwithstanding its nature, scope or truth. On the basis of this discussion, the article warns on the risks of this emotional modality of information circulation, that potentially undermines the capacity of users to distinguish true from false, ironic from serious content - a paradoxical outcome of the promise of participation and democratisation of information originally to the Internet.