Ballots, Bytes, and Battlegrounds: Participatory Framing Among ‘Stop-The-Steal’ Memes

On January 6, 2021, the Stop-the-Steal (STS) movement stormed the U.S. Capitol. With 74 STS memes from X, this study used multimodal discourse analysis. Diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational frames emerged as the primary thematic categories. Diagnostic frames served as the movement’s entry point and master frame. Through a conceptual radicalization pipeline analogy, STS frames escalated and were the most extreme in the motivational category. Future research should examine how memes can be weaponized in digital deviance, extremism, and anti-social activism. A better grasp of their digital utility will illuminate how humor, culture, and coded language can coalesce and endanger democracy.