Mediated reporting

Instagram’s materialities and the exposure of violence against women

Abstract

The exposure of experiences of violence against women on digital platforms has grown and transformed the ways of reporting and circulating narratives in the public sphere. On Instagram, victims of violence combine visual, textual, and performative elements to expose situations and perpetrators. The aim of this article is to analyze how women use the materialities of Instagram to produce public visibility for these narratives. To this end, forms of reporting mediated by the platform are identified through exploratory research and descriptive analysis, showing how Instagram’s technical resources are mobilized in posts. Finally, five analytical categories are proposed, highlighting different uses of the platform’s materialities: materialities mobilized in practices of reporting violence; strategies of evidence production; forms of narrative; production of visibility; and networks of recognition and support.