Conference Program

In the context of contemporary ongoing polycrisis marked by genocide, democratic backsliding, armed conflicts, and climate emergency, young people on social media platforms face what visual artist Noura Tafeche termed as ‘iniqualgia’: the process of getting sick from injustice, particularly through the constant exposure to images of violence and suffering. In this political atmosphere, promoting youth political participation stands as one of the most arduous challenges for consolidating genuine civic activism in a healthy democracy. Traditional institutional channels suffer from a profound crisis of representation, failing to recognize young people within the political system and generating youth resentment.

This lack of recognition has driven youth toward novel forms of bottom-up citizenship, yet these participatory practices remain underexplored, particularly among pre-teen demographics typically excluded from civic engagement research and practice.

This contribution examines the concept of ‘playful activism’ (Cervi & Divon, 2023) in the digital ambient, a tool through which youth create meaningful political participation within algorithmically governed digital spaces. Playful activism mobilizes platform affordances (gamification, virality, accessibility) to construct low-cost, inclusive solidarity actions that subvert intended platform purposes. As a case study, this paper analyzes the ongoing practice of teens and preteens pro-Palestine Roblox virtual protests: coordinated demonstrations beginning in October 2023 that have recurred regularly, attracting thousands of users organizing parades with Palestinian flags and political messages within the gaming platform. A case study particularly relevant considering the demographic of the Roblox Platform where over 40% of the users are aged 12 or younger. By appropriating gaming platforms for political expression, participants practice digital citizenship and construct innovative solidarity spaces, asserting agency through creative platform use. Reaching demographics systematically excluded from traditional activism, particularly pre-teens, and generating substantial media coverage, these actions demonstrate tangible impact on public discourse beyond the platform itself.
The methodology proposed is based on qualitative content analysis of secondary data, including media coverage of Roblox protests, social media posts and screenshots documenting virtual demonstrations, and available platform data. This approach allows for examination of both the visual and discursive dimensions of playful activism, capturing how protest practices are represented, amplified, and circulated beyond the gaming platform itself.

This contribution aims to analyse youth political participation, digital citizenship practices, and inclusion tools essential for strengthening democratic engagement among new generations. Beyond protest, these practices function simultaneously as advocacy and informal media literacy. By participating in coordinated virtual demonstrations, pre-teens develop critical platform awareness, learning to appropriate digital spaces for civic purposes. Each protest thus generates a new wave of informed participants: young people who, having experienced playful activism firsthand, become advocates capable of mobilizing future collective actions. In this context, youth playful activism serves not merely as a form of political participation but as a form of grassroots peer-to-peer communal, educational and political approach.