First publication of 2025 on a highly unique case: a coordinated attack by pro-Vietnam activists on a post from the Facebook page of the Chinese Embassy in Italy. The post, which is still accessible (link), incidentally featured a map that included the Spratly and Paracel Islands—disputed by Vietnam—as part of Chinese territory.
Some of the concepts discussed in this article were presented during my research colloquium as a Visiting Research Fellow at the ZeMKi Centre for Media, Communication, and Information Research at the University of Bremen on May 15, 2024. I also benefited from discussions with Nguyen-Phuong Tran, currently a doctoral student in Urbino, who provided valuable insights into social media in Vietnam. Our conversations on the concept of online firestorms were particularly enriching.
Many thanks to the editors of ISR – Italian Sociological Review for their valuable work and for making this high-quality journal freely accessible.
For those interested, the full paper is available here: link.