Internet Memes and the Power of the Crowd: Exploring Market Impacts and Governance Challenges in the Digital Age

At the beginning of 2021, a wave sparked by online communities, Elon Musk, and Dogecoin swept across the scene. A simple tweet surprisingly caused the market value of this satirical cryptocurrency to soar to about $14 billion in a short time. Memes indeed have their unique charm, capable of taking root in people's minds and spreading ideas in a concise and powerful way.

This phenomenon of memes spreading through the internet is also discussed in the science fiction novel "Snow Crash." Although the saying "memes influence the market" is eye-catching, it seems that not many people truly reflect on its meaning or have read "Snow Crash."

Meme: Beyond Visual Humor

Memes are not just visual jokes. In fact, the term "meme" represents "memetics," which refers to information and cultural elements designed to be rooted in people's minds for the effective transmission of ideas and thoughts.

The application of these meme technologies in reality, especially targeted memes spread through social media, has shown a destructive impact on the democratic process. During the COVID-19 pandemic, memes also played a role in spreading misinformation, triggering protests against public health measures globally, resulting in substantial negative consequences.

The Power of Online Communities: From GameStop to Cryptocurrency

After the GameStop stock price incident, we witnessed how retail investors united to successfully fight back against the short-selling operations of large hedge funds on Wall Street. This collective action was not only a protest against the strategies of hedge funds but also an effective counterattack in the market through coordinated cooperation and resource integration.

Similar group behaviors on social media platforms have had an impact on the market for many years, especially evident in "pump and dump" operations.

Similar group dynamics have emerged in the cryptocurrency space, particularly during Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). There is a subtle interactive relationship between project founders and active users in online forums, mainly driven by economic interests, as all participants hope for an increase in the value of cryptocurrencies.

The Prophecy and Reality of Password Punk

As early as the 1990s, cyberpunks foresaw this trend of development. Some of their extreme views believed that online mobs and organized crime groups were an inevitable result of a decentralized internet. The side effects of this trend are reflected not only in the increasingly frequent and severe DDoS attacks but also in the thriving dark web markets.

At the same time, crypto projects have begun to realize that they are actually adopting new, more decentralized and digital approaches to governance design. This indicates that digitalization and decentralization are not only trends in the technological field, but are also becoming important components of social and governance structures.

Challenges of Future Governance

If memes really become the "controlling force of the future economy", we will face a major challenge: how should we respond when the ideals of "freedom" and "justice" are no longer determined by the market's "invisible hand" or the "immutable code" of cryptocurrencies, but rather stem from "desire meme theory"?

Attention to governance design is rapidly increasing in distributed network communities. People are gradually realizing that a "decentralized autonomous organization" is not a flawless code machine for guiding human behavior. Even permissionless digital infrastructure cannot completely escape governance issues.

Ostrom's theory is particularly important in this regard, as her theoretical framework for managing public goods is becoming an important guide for online community governance. This provides us with a perspective that views digital infrastructure as a "shared resource" or shared public good, aimed at co-construction and co-maintenance, rather than as a tool for attack.

Conclusion

The emergence of GameStop, Dogecoin, and other memes continuously reminds us that all infrastructure, including digital infrastructure, has political attributes. Internet citizens need to be aware that memes are a powerful tool that should not be underestimated in the battle for influence over minds and behaviors.

Education has been proven to be the most effective antidote. European researchers created the GoViral! game, aimed at training students to recognize and understand the development process of memes, helping them distinguish between memes and false information.

Although information infrastructure provides individuals with greater freedom, power, and the possibility of participating in governance, we are still exploring the guidelines for living that are suitable for this era. In a future where the digital world and the real world are increasingly intertwined, we need to work together to create a cyberspace based on sharing rather than control.